Thinking in Pictures, Expanded Edition: My Life with Autism,   ISBN:9780307275653

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It might come as a shock but Dr. Grandin doesn't have (and, in fact, never had) autism. She might suffer from mild oddities and peculiarities, anxiety, and even repetitive and intrusive obsessive thoughts. That is not enough, though, to qualify her for the diagnosis of Autism. At the core of Autistic disorder is lack of "theory of mind", in other words, inability to develop insight into own thinking, comprehend others' thinking, and be able to compare the two. One either wouldn't have the disorder to be able to write a book about inner workings of autistic psyche for non autistics OR have it and never recognize own deficiencies explicitly defined by the diagnosis. It can't be both, and I suspect the former is true. Sorry, Dr. Grandin. BTW, I am a pediatric psychiatrist with more than 20 years of experience treating Autistic disorders.

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I have a 4 year old w/ PDD-NOS. This book opened my eyes and helped me understand my son so much. Within the first 20 pages I had so many ah-ha moments. Some of the behaviors my son has I thought was original to him until I read this book. Parts of the book can get a little dry when Dr. Gandin goes into the details of her cattle designs but it does come together. She has a great sense of humor about her experiences growing up in a time where ASD was exteremly rare. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a child/ knows a child/ or teaches children w/ ASD. I am now able to have more of an understanding how my son's mind works and how to address his needs. I realize my son is a visual learner and life is easier for the both of us since I am not consistantly trying to explain to him in words. We look at pictures and we show things to him so he can understand social rules and social stories. Dr. Grandin is an amazing woman.

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This book is a must have for anyone who is lucky enough to be touched by someone with autism. It will help you to better understand how they are feeling and why they do some of the things they do. This book is so good you won't want to put it down.

I am so thankful our therapist recommended this book to us, because now I have a better understanding of what my autistic child is going through inside of her body and mind and why she does some of the things she does. It helps me not to become so frustrated with her.

Thank you, Temple, for taking the time to share your life with those of us who are blessed enough to have someone we love with autism so we can better relate to them and have a better understanding.

Very well written and fabulous to read. I am anxious to get the rest of her books!

Customer Rating: 

This book was of interest to me in general because of friends' children with types of autism, and now I have a grandson who is on the autistic spectrum. Temple is able to explain why she needs to do certain things for herself(the squeeze machine), why certain situations are too stimulating for her or why she doesn't respond in the usual manner in a social situation. Most importantly she has used her understanding of and empathy with (especially food) animals to draw up functional working designs to manage their penning, their moving through chutes for dips or for slaughter, in order to minimize their trauma. She has created her own successful business in this field. It is a challenge to understand what it is like inside the autistic consciousness--this is a good book for some beginning of that.

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Understanding your child's challenges and special gifts can help your child be the best they can be
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