THE autism/Asperger spectrum is very broad, ranging from a brilliant scientist to a person who remains nonverbal with a severe disability. There are many characteristics that are the same along the entire continuum. Two of the most important are problems with social situations, and sensory sensitivities. Sensory problems are often overlooked. When I was a child, a loud school bell was like a dentist drill hitting a nerve. It hurt my ears.
Chantal Sicile-Kira originally contacted me to discuss sensory processing issues. She told me she was writing a general reference guide to autism spectrum disorders. This led to a series of phone calls and faxes. Finally, we met at an autism conference in San Diego, where I had been asked to speak, and Chantal handed me her manuscript, asking me if I would read it and tell her what I thought.
I read her book on my plane trip back home, calling Chantal from two different airports to tell her how impressed I was with the thoroughness of her manuscript, as well as her ability to take complex information and simplify it, rendering it understandable to everyone. This book gives the general public, professionals, and parents a better understanding of the autism/Asperger spectrum, as well as providing lists of resources useful to those who are on the spectrum, and those who work and care for them.
I would like to give a word of advice to all people who work with children or adults on the spectrum: develop talents that can be turned into job skills or hobbies. Social interaction will develop through an interest that can be shared with other people. Special education teachers often put too much emphasis on deficits and not enough on building on areas of strength. As a visual thinker I was good at drawing, and my visual and drawing skills became the basis for my career as a designer of livestock facilities.
Skills tend to be uneven; an individual may be good at one thing and not another. I was good at drawing and building things, but algebra was incomprehensible because I could not visualize it. The minds of people on the spectrum are usually specialized. I have observed that there are three basic types of specialized minds: the visual thinking mind; the music and mathematical mind; and the nonvisual numbers and language translator mind. Teachers and parents should work on utilizing these strengths.
Individuals with autism often become fixated on a single thing, such as trains or airplanes. Use the strong motivation of the fixation to encourage activities. If a child likes trains, use trains in mathematical problems, read a train book to teach literacy, or invent a game involving trains that can be played with other children. A good teacher takes the fixation and broadens it out. Many great scientists pursued a childhood interest.
The autism/Asperger spectrum is a continuum from normal to abnormal. In my book Thinking in Pictures, I profiled former scientists such as Einstein who had childhood autistic traits. The British researcher Simon Baron-Cohen has also written on the appearance of autistic traits in scientists and physicists. When does “computer nerd” become Asperger’s? There is no black-and-white dividing line.
Individuals who remain nonverbal will often have something they are good at. Many of them have fantastic memories. They may be good at jobs such as reshelving books in the library or taking inventory of the stock at a shop. They would be good at a job that most people would find boring. Develop these skills so they can be useful.
People on the spectrum who have a fulfilling life now often had four important assets earlier in their life: early education and treatment; medication or other treatment for severe anxiety, depression, or sensory sensitivities; development of their talents; and mentors and teachers to help them.
What I really like about Chantal’s book are the many references to and quotes from people on the autism/Asperger spectrum. This information from personal experiences will give both parents and professionals much-needed insight into how autistic people perceive the world.
—Temple Grandin, PhD, author of Thinking in Pictures, associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University, founder and president of Grandin Livestock Handling Systems Inc.