Lyn Miller-Lachmann - She Persisted: Temple Grandin

She Persisted: MARIAN ANDERSON

She Persisted: VIRGINIA APGAR

She Persisted: NELLIE BLY

She Persisted: RUBY BRIDGES

She Persisted: CLAUDETTE COLVIN

She Persisted: ROSALIND FRANKLIN

She Persisted: TEMPLE GRANDIN

She Persisted: FLORENCE GRIFFITH JOYNER

She Persisted: HELEN KELLER

She Persisted: CORETTA SCOTT KING

She Persisted: CLARA LEMLICH

She Persisted: MAYA LIN

She Persisted: WANGARI MAATHAI

She Persisted: WILMA MANKILLER

She Persisted: PATSY MINK

She Persisted: SALLY RIDE

She Persisted: MARGARET CHASE SMITH

She Persisted: SONIA SOTOMAYOR

She Persisted: MARIA TALLCHIEF

She Persisted: DIANA TAURASI

She Persisted: HARRIET TUBMAN

She Persisted: OPRAH WINFREY

She Persisted: MALALA YOUSAFZAI

Temple Grandins mother loved her daughter very much. But when Temple was a baby, her mother, Eustacia, worried about her a lot too. Eustacia worried because Temple was unusually quiet. While her friends babies babbled cheerfully, then spoke words and sentences, Temple stayed silent.

From the age of six months on, Temple stiffened when Eustacia held her. She hated it when people hugged her. She would scratch and kick like a little wild animal.

Eustacia noticed that Temple often seemed to live in her own world. Growing up, she would sit on the beach and watch sand running through her fingers. At home, she liked to tear paper up into strips or confetti and arrange it into piles. When Eustacia played the piano, Temple would rock or spin around in circles while humming to herself.

Temples father didnt have much patience with children, especially with one who was different. He wanted to send her to a home for children with disabilities. But Eustacia refused to give up on her daughter.

Fortunately, the Grandins had a lot of money, and they lived in Boston, where there were many well-known universities and hospitals. Eustacia brought Temple to the doctors at Boston Childrens Hospital. They tested Temples hearing. It was normal. After more tests, they told Eustacia that Temple had brain damage. The doctors suggested that Temple go for speech therapy.

Many years later, Temple would learn she was autistic. Autistic people have brains that work differently. They can often focus intently on things that fascinate them, like how sand looks and feels when it runs through fingers. But they sometimes have a hard time communicating their thoughts and feelings, which is why Temple didnt speak and why she screamed in frustration instead.

In 1947, the year Temple was born, very few children were diagnosed as autistic, which means that lots of doctors didnt realize what was going on with their patients. Those who were diagnosed usually lived in bleak hospital-like institutions for people with disabilities. The doctor who defined autism in 1943, Leo Kanner, thought it was uncommon and believed that doctors could use a few specific signs to tell who was autistic. Even though Kanner didnt have any recommendations for what to do about it then, doctors who read his work assumed the children he described could not live with their families or attend a regular school.

For more than a year after meeting with the doctors, Temple didnt say a word. Eustacia hired a nanny to play games with her so she would learn how to take turns, follow directions, and lose without throwing a tantrum. After Temple started speaking at age four, Eustacia taught her to read. They spent thirty minutes on reading lessons, five days a week, and Temple learned quickly. She showed her mother and everyone else that she would grow up and learn on her own schedule!

Eustacias father, Temples grandfather, John C. Purves, was a famous inventor who developed the autopilot system for airplanes. With her mother and grandfathers encouragement, Temple used her imagination to make things too. She discovered her mothers sewing kit and her fathers toolbox. She made models and dioramas that impressed her family. Then she took them apart and made new things.