This is a video sharing the views of Dr. Temple Grandin on Autism Recovery. But the main disconnect I see with this video here is that she is using an example of ordering fast food at a McDonald's restaurant, so it appears to me that she is specifically talking about autism recovery only in regards to behavioral intervention, or otherwise ABA therapy, not bio-medical recovery that would instead focus on healthy diet and detox and would never eat something from a McDonald's drive-thru. Just something I noticed and thought was definitely relevant to the personal perspective displayed here.
Below is the transcript of the views of Dr. Temple Grandin on Autism Recovery if you'd prefer to read through it instead.
"Shannon Penrod: There's been another new study about optimal outcomes and I wanted to know what are your thoughts on recovery? Do you think it's possible? Do you believe in recovery from autism?
Temple Grandin: On recovery, you learn how to adapt. I mean, I've had a lot of experimental brain scans done and they have found things that are definitely abnormal. I have an enlarged left ventricle is definitely abnormal. That's not going to go away. That scan was done less than five years ago, but you work with someone and they adapt.
Temple Grandin: You're not going to make me an Algebra specialist. That's just not going to happen. But things like learning, getting better at public speaking, that is something that I gradually learned. What I'm seeing today, especially with some of the kids on the mild end of the spectrum, I'm seeing teenagers that are much milder than me that haven't learned things like how to go up to the counter at Mcdonald's and order food all by themselves, how to go on the bus, how to shop, how to go in the store and shop, how to do a checkbook.
Temple Grandin: Basic things like that. Because what drives me crazy is when I go back to the cattle world and I see a guy in the maintenance shop that's running the whole maintenance shop at a big plant and he's as aspergers you can be, and he's running a whole maintenance shop and then I see "Junior" that's addicted to video games and you can't get his duff off his chair and oing things. Now, when I was in high school, I did a lot of thinking about this and I got kicked out of a large girls' school for throwing a book. And I went to a special boarding school, up on a farm, and I was allowed to work with the farm animals and they let me goof off and not study, but I got to thinking.. There's one thing they did not let me do, like I goofed off and I didn't study, but I had to physically go to class.
Temple Grandin: When I didn't want to go to the Friday night movie. They made me the projectionist.
Temple Grandin: One thing they were not going to do was let me do is sit in my room and become a recluse in my room. They were not going to allow that.
Shannon Penrod: I want to know why you threw the book.
Temple Grandin: I threw a book at a girl because she called me a retard.
Shannon Penrod: Oh, good reason.
Temple Grandin: She teased me and I had some problems getting in fights, but it was always brought about by someone picking on me. And the principal had me kicked out of school out of a large girls' school for doing that.
Shannon Penrod: And what'd your mom say?
Temple Grandin: Well, she was not very happy about the whole thing because when the principal called, I answered the phone and he said that I was incorrigible and I was kicked out of school. Mother was really angry that he just said that directly to me, which was definitely not very appropriate."
I hope you enjoyed this video of the views of Dr. Temple Grandin on Autism Recovery. You can find out more about Autism Live and watch more interviews with Temple Grandin, Shannon Penrod, Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, Nancy Alspaugh-Jackson, and other 'experts' here: http://www.autism-live.com/
