Autism and Education: The Way I See It by Temple Grandin

Insightful on autism & education, but leans on ABA & norm adaptation. Great for parents, less so for neurodiversity advocates.

F

As an autistic adult, I was eager to read Autism and Education: The Way I See It by Temple Grandin. Grandin is one of the most well-known figures in the autism community, and her insights into education and learning have influenced many discussions. While I found some parts of the book insightful and valuable, I also had mixed feelings about certain aspects.

What I Appreciated

One of the strongest elements of this book is Grandin’s ability to explain different thinking styles among autistic people. She categorizes autistic learners into visual thinkers (object visualizers), music and math thinkers (visual-spatial), and verbal thinkers. As she explains:

All minds on the autism spectrum are detail-oriented, but how they specialize varies… Determining thinking types in three-year-old children is often not possible. Dominant thinking types usually become more obvious when a child is seven to nine.