Temple Grandin Quotes & Sayings

In fact, there are autism clusters, you know, around some of the big tech centers. You take two socially awkward computer programmers and put them together, that can kind of concentrate the autistic genes. — Temple Grandin

I had people in my life who didn't give up on me: my mother, my aunt, my science teacher. I had one-on-one speech therapy. I had a nanny who spent all day playing turn-taking games with me. — Temple Grandin

I'd rather see a kid get fixated on something they can turn into a career. — Temple Grandin

I believe that the place where an animal dies is a sacred one. There is a need to bring ritual into the conventional slaughter plants and use as a means to shape people's behavior. It would help prevent people from becoming numbed, callous, or cruel. The ritual could be something very simple, such as a moment of silence. In addition to developing better designs and making equipment to insure the humane treatments of all animals, that would be my contribution. — Temple Grandin

The most important thing people did for me was to expose me to new things. — Temple Grandin

Computerized medical records will enable statistical analysis to be used to determine which treatments are most effective. — Temple Grandin

In special education, there's too much emphasis placed on the deficit and not enough on the strength. — Temple Grandin

Dogs serve people, but people serve cats. — Temple Grandin

Unfortunately, most people never observe the natural cycle of birth and death. They do not realize that for one living thing to survive, another living thing must die. — Temple Grandin

I've worked with tons of people that I know who are on the spectrum - but now I think severe autism has really increased. — Temple Grandin

I can explain how a person with autism thinks. I am very, very interested in how people think. It's been a gradual process of learning more and more about how my thinking process is different. You know it's bottom up - you take specific examples to make concepts and then I put them in categories. — Temple Grandin

I know a number of autistic adults that are doing extremely well on Prozac. — Temple Grandin

We raise them for us; that means we owe them some respect. nature is creul but we dont have to be. i wouldnt want to have my guts ripped out by a lion. i'd much rather die in a slaughter house if it were done right. — Temple Grandin

I have been on the same dose of anti-depressants for 15 years, and my nerves still go up and down in cycles; but my nerves are cycling at a lower level than they were before. — Temple Grandin

Research is starting to show that a child should be engaged at least 20 hours a week. I do not think it matters which program you choose as long as it keeps the child actively engaged with the therapist, teacher, or parent for at least 20 hours a week. — Temple Grandin

One big question that's come up is: Has autism increased on the mild side of things? I don't think so - they've always been here. Some of this is increased detection. — Temple Grandin

I like to figure things out and solve problems. — Temple Grandin

My problems are sort of more on a nuisance level. I can't stand scratchy clothes, I've got to have soft kinds of cotton against my skin, and I don't know why some 100% cotton t-shirts itch and others don't; it has something to do with the weave. — Temple Grandin

Neither living nor learning was good without order. — Temple Grandin

I can remember being bullied and teased. It was absolutely horrible. I got kicked out of ninth grade for throwing a book at a girl who teased me. It was absolutely terrible. — Temple Grandin

Animals make us Human. — Temple Grandin

Half of Silicon Valley's got a little bit of autism. — Temple Grandin

Children between the ages of five to ten years are even more variable. They are going to vary from very high functioning, capable of doing normal school work, to nonverbal who have all kinds of neurological problems. — Temple Grandin

I've got a lot of other people who do a lot of things for me, so I've gotten to a part in my career where I'm doing a lot of talks because I want to get kids turned on. I want to see these kids, these geeky nerdy kids, go out there and do something. — Temple Grandin

I believe that the best way to create good living conditions for any animal, whether it's a captive animal living in a zoo, a farm animal or a pet, is to base animal welfare programs on the core emotion systems in the brain. My theory is that the environment animals live in should activate their positive emotions as much as possible, and not activate their negative emotions any more than necessary. If we get the animal's emotions rights, we will have fewer problem behaviors ... All animals and people have the same core emotion systems in the brain. — Temple Grandin

I use my mind to solve problems and invent things. — Temple Grandin

There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child CAN do, instead of what he cannot do. — Temple Grandin

If you have autism in the family history, you still vaccinate. Delay it a bit, space them out. — Temple Grandin

I am a big believer in early intervention. — Temple Grandin

A treatment method or an educational method that will work for one child may not work for another child. The one common denominator for all of the young children is that early intervention does work, and it seems to improve the prognosis. — Temple Grandin

In an ideal world the scientist should find a method to prevent the most severe forms of autism but allow the milder forms to survive. After all, the really social people did not invent the first stone spear. It was probably invented by an Aspie who chipped away at rocks while the other people socialized around the campfire. Without autism traits we might still be living in caves. — Temple Grandin

I'd rather have a kid come up to me and tell me that he loves dinosaurs or he loves airplanes or he likes training dogs or I like Shakespeare. I mean, just something. — Temple Grandin

The word "autism" still conveys a fixed and dreadful meaning to most people - they visualize a child mute, rocking, screaming, inaccessible, cut off from human contact. And we almost always speak of autistic children, never of autistic adults, as if such children never grew up, or were somehow mysteriously spirited off the planet, out of society. — Temple Grandin

We do know, however that almost no animal routinely kills prey animal on an indiscriminate basis.
The only wild animal I've seen who will sometimes violate this rule is the coyote. Most of the time a coyote eats the animals he kills, but occasionally coyotes will go on a lamb-killing spree, killing twenty and eating only one. I believe it's possible coyotes have lost some of their economy of behavior by living in close proximity to humans and overabundant food supplies. A coyote that kills twenty lambs and eats only one isn't going to have to trek a hundred miles to find more lambs next week. Any sheep rancher will have several hundred other lambs that will be just as easy to catch later on, and the coyote knows it. Wild coyotes have probably lost the knowledge taht you shouldn't waste food or energy. — Temple Grandin

Autism is a neurological disorder. It's not caused by bad parenting. It's caused by, you know, abnormal development in the brain. The emotional circuits in the brain are abnormal. And there also are differences in the white matter, which is the brain's computer cables that hook up the different brain departments. — Temple Grandin

Social thinking skills must be directly taught to children and adults with ASD. Doing so opens doors of social understandings in all areas of life. — Temple Grandin

Our whole image of wolf packs and alphas is completely wrong. Instead, wolves live the way people do:7 in families made up of a mom, a dad, and their children. Sometimes an unrelated wolf can be adopted into a pack, or one of the mom's or dad's relatives is part of the pack (the "maiden aunt"), or a mom or dad who has died could be replaced by a new wolf. But mostly wolf packs are just a mom, a dad, and their pups. — Temple Grandin

My Advice is: You always have to keep persevering. — Temple Grandin

Autistic children are very difficult to take care of, especially severely autistic ones. When I was 4, I had almost no language; when I was 3, I had none at all. — Temple Grandin

Some teachers just have a knack for working with autistic children. Other teachers do not have it. — Temple Grandin

My life is basically my work. — Temple Grandin

Us visual thinkers like me, be good at things like industrial design, graphics, art, those kind of jobs. — Temple Grandin

People are always looking for the single magic bullet that will totally change everything. There is no single magic bullet. — Temple Grandin

It is human nature to strive. — Temple Grandin

For example, the main reason zebras never got domesticated is that they're ultra-high-fear. Zebras may bite people and not let go. They injure more people in zoos than the tigers do.15 — Temple Grandin

As you may know, some of the stereotyped behaviors exhibited by autistic children are also found in zoo animals who are raised in a barren environment. — Temple Grandin

The Mind of a Mnemonist — Temple Grandin

I've always thought of myself as a cattle-handling specialist, a college professor first; autism is secondary. — Temple Grandin

I was also struck, when we walked together, by her seeming inability to feel some of the simplest emotions. "The mountains are pretty," she said, "but they don't give me a special feeling, the feeling you seem to enjoy ... You look at the brook, the flowers, I see what great pleasure you get out of it. I'm denied that. — Temple Grandin

I think the core criterion is the social awkwardness, but the sensory issues are a serious problem in many, many cases of autism, and they make it impossible to operate in the environment where you're supposed to be social. — Temple Grandin

By looking at autistic kids, you can't tell when you're working with them who you're going to pull out, who is going to become verbal and who's not. And there seem to be certain kids who, as they learn more and more, they get less autistic acting, and they learn social skills enough so that they can turn out socially normal. — Temple Grandin

There's a saying in engineering: You can build things cheap, fast, or right, but not all three. — Temple Grandin

I obtain great satisfaction out of using my intellect. — Temple Grandin

When you take a drug to treat high blood pressure or diabetes, you have an objective test to measure blood pressure and the amount of sugar in the blood. It is straight-forward. With autism, you are looking for changes in behavior. — Temple Grandin

What a horse does under compulsion he does blindly, and his performance is no more beautiful than would be that of a ballet-dancer taught by whip and goad. The performances of horse or man so treated would seem to be displays of clumsy gestures rather than of grace and beauty. What we need is that the horse should of his own accord exhibit his finest airs and paces at set signals. — Temple Grandin

One of the big areas I'd like to see a lot more research done on is the sensory problems, and it's real variable. One kid's got sound sensitivity; another one can't tolerate fluorescent lights. I can't stand scratchy clothes. — Temple Grandin

I don't want my thoughts to die with me, I want to have done something. I'm not interested in power, or piles of money. I want to leave something behind. I want to make a positive contribution - know that my life has meaning. — Temple Grandin

One of the things I want to do is be a decent role model. I've got a lot of emails and stuff from children. They look up to me. Kids get different labels and things like that and I want those kids to succeed. — Temple Grandin

These diagnostic profiles like depression, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, it's half science and the other half is a committee of doctors bickering over what it should be, and it has changed. It's not precise like a diagnosis of tuberculosis would be very precise. — Temple Grandin

Some children may need a behavioral approach, whereas other children may need a sensory approach. — Temple Grandin

I am different, not less. — Temple Grandin

What I've tried to do is combine both my personal experiences with scientific research. I like to cross the divide between the personal world and the scientific world. — Temple Grandin

I'm seeing too many kind of socially awkward kids that get through schools and then they can't hold a job because they haven't learned the discipline of get up in the morning. — Temple Grandin

[T]he only place on earth where immortality is provided is in libraries. This is the collective memory of humanity. — Temple Grandin

Seeking is a combination of emotions people usually think of as being different: wanting something really good, looking forward to getting something really good and curiosity. Seeking gives you the energy to go after your goals. — Temple Grandin

Animals are like autistic savants. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that animals might actually be autistic savants. Animals have special talents normal people don't, the same way autistic people have special talents normal people don't; and at least some animals have special forms of genius normal people don't, the same way some autistic savants have special forms of genius. I think most of the time animal genius probably happens for the same reason autistic genius does: a difference in the brain autistic people share with animals. — Temple Grandin

People wouldn't have become who we are today if we hadn't coevolved with dogs. — Temple Grandin

You can't punish a child who is acting out because of sensory overload. — Temple Grandin

The thing about being autistic is that you gradually get less and less autistic, because you keep learning, you keep learning how to behave. It's like being in a play; I'm always in a play. — Temple Grandin

Some autistic children cannot stand the sound of certain voices. I have come across cases where teachers tell me that certain children have problems with their voice or another person's voice. This problem tends to be related to high-pitched ladies' voices. — Temple Grandin

Some people with autism who don't talk, all they hear are vowel sounds. Like if I said 'cup,' they might just hear 'uh.' — Temple Grandin

Autism is an extremely variable disorder. — Temple Grandin

In my opinion, one of the greatest animal-welfare problems is the physical abuse of livestock during transportation ... Typical abuses I have witnessed with alarming frequency are; hitting, beating, use of badly maintained trucks, jabbing of short objects into animals, and deliberate cruelty. — Temple Grandin

When I was younger, I was looking for this magic meaning of life. — Temple Grandin

Many autistic children like to smell things, and smell may provide more reliable information about their surroundings than either vision or hearing. — Temple Grandin

The squeeze machine is not going to cure anybody, but it may help them relax; and a relaxed person will usually have better behavior. — Temple Grandin

Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be. — Temple Grandin

I was expected to sit at the table, learn how to eat properly. — Temple Grandin

Fieldwork is probably always more likely to be holistic than lab work or mathematical modeling because in the field you can't get away from the whole when a research project starts. — Temple Grandin

Medication should never be considered the only tool for helping a person. — Temple Grandin

From a scientific standpoint, Aspergers and autism are one syndrome. Aspergers is part of the autism spectrum, not a separate disorder. — Temple Grandin

If I did not have my work, I would not have any life. — Temple Grandin

Autism is part of who I am. — Temple Grandin

There's a point where anecdotal evidence becomes truth — Temple Grandin

I think that autistic brains tend to be specialized brains. Autistic people tend to be less social. It takes a ton of processor space in the brain to have all the social circuits. — Temple Grandin

People are getting too far away from the real-world. Politics is just ridiculous, it's totally dysfunctional. — Temple Grandin

The worst thing you can do is nothing. (re: teaching children with autism) — Temple Grandin

What do I do when I go home? Work. That's basically my social life. I'm married to work. — Temple Grandin

I had problems getting my words out. If people spoke directly to me, I understood what they said. But when the grownups got to yakking really fast by themselves, it just sounded like 'oi oi.' I thought grownups had a separate language. I've now figured out I was not hearing the hard consonant sounds. — Temple Grandin

My grandfather was an engineer who invented the automatic pilot for airplanes. — Temple Grandin

Boys who cry can work for Google. Boys who trash computers cannot. I once was at a science conference, and I saw a NASA scientist who had just found out that his project was canceled - a project he'd worked on for years. He was maybe sixty-five years old, and you know what? He was crying. And I thought, Good for him. That's why he was able to reach retirement age working in a job he loved. — Temple Grandin

It's much more work for the mother of an autistic child to have a job, because working with an autistic child is such a hassle until they go to school. — Temple Grandin

You take somebody - one person has definitely got autism, you got another person that maybe has some of those traits and maybe there's some anxiety, depression, some epilepsy or something in the family history. Put them together, you're more likely to have a severely autistic kid than if you don't have any neurological problems in the family history. — Temple Grandin

Kanner had cause and effect backward. The child wasn't behaving in a psychically isolated or physically destructive manner because the parents were emotionally distant. Instead, the — Temple Grandin

Sometimes we forget about common sense. Autism is used too much as an excuse for bad behavior. — Temple Grandin

When something is "all in your mind," people tend to think that it's willful, that it's something you could control if only you tried harder or if you had been trained differently. I'm hoping that the newfound certainty that autism is in your brain and in your genes will affect public attitudes. — Temple Grandin

The big companies are like steel and activists are like heat. Activists soften the steel, and then I can bend it into pretty grillwork and make reforms. — Temple Grandin

I am much less autistic now, compared to when I was young. I remember some behaviors like picking carpet fuzz and watching spinning plates for hours. I didn't want to be touched. I couldn't shut out background noise. I didn't talk until I was about 4 years old. I screamed. I hummed. But as I grew up, I improved. — Temple Grandin

I replaced emotional complexity with visual and intellectual complexity. I questioned everything and looked to logic, science, and intellect for answers. — Temple Grandin

Steve Jobs was probably mildly on the autistic spectrum. Basically, you've probably known people who were geeky and socially awkward but very smart. When does geeks and nerds become autism? That's a gray area. Half the people in Silicon Valley probably have autism. — Temple Grandin