I Never Thought of It Like That

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I watched a wonderful movie called Temple Grandin. It is the true life story of this woman who was born in the late 1940's with Autism and what she was able to accomplish with her life. It was so eye opening for us!

I cried several times in the movie. Some were sad as I watched her mother try to work with her. There was a part when her mom is trying to teach her and Temple is just staring off into space and her mom is feeling so frustrated and finally says, "I think I need a time out!" Other times listening to Temple explain how she felt and saw the world made me cry tears of joy because of the hope it made me feel. It helped me understand things about my son that I didn't know.

It was difficult at times to watch, just seeing how she was treated. Back in the 50's and 60's hardly any one knew what autism was, and parents were told to institutionalize their children. But the over all feeling of the movie gave me hope. Temple sees the world in pictures and as such has a unique ability to look at the world and solve problems. She has a website and on it she talks about that they are 3 types of learners. The first is visual like her, the second is in music, and the third is literal. We know the Bug is a visual learner too.

Another point I liked is it showed a teacher that she had in high school that saw her amazing potential and helped her see how smart she truly was. It made me think of all the wonderful teachers and aides that the Bug has and has had. I hope they know how profoundly grateful we are to them for their efforts. As a parent with a child with special needs, you often feel alone, and having dedicated teachers who are trained and can teach you how to work with your child is a tremendous gift. In addition to that having teachers who see how precious your child is and love them is the best ever.

One final thing is Temple says if she could press a button to cure her autism, she wouldn't. She feels her autism is a gift and we need people like her to see the world in ways that "normal functioning" people can't. I don't know that I am to the point where I could say if there was a cure I wouldn't want if for my son, but I do agree that having him in our family has taught me to see the world in a different way. I have been told before that he doesn't have autism for him, but it is for us to learn through him.