Temple Grandin

If you follow my blog, you already know that I love cows. What a lot of you don't know is how my love for cattle inspired me to be a special education teacher. When I was about 13 years old my dad found a movie that I might be interested in. The movie was about cattle and how a lady with autism actually created a more efficient and much more effective cattle chute that is very popular in the industry today. This amazing women also helped to create a more humane system for slaughtering livestock animals.The lady: Temple Grandin, became a huge inspiration for me. It is super cool to think that someone with Autism (a disability) has been able to do change, and invent so many things. Below you will be able to see the chute system that Temple Grandin created. There was another connection that I was able to make with Temple, she is a women in agriculture. I know her struggles to be able to do what she has done. If you are a women in agriculture you have to impress the men to be able to be taken seriously, (I now this too well).
Image result for temple grandin cattle chute Between watching her movie at least thirty times, to reading all of her books, it has helped me to be able to understand and think about different ways to be able to encourage students to be in the agriculture industry. We all know that working with our hands is important, but those students with autism learn in pictures.

I have seen Temple Grandin speak, and it was AMAZING. This lady has so much knowledge that she shares openly with the public. I think it really hit home for because she supports students with autism and other learning disabilities to participate in hands on classes in school. I am also super excited that I got to hear her talk about her new book (yes I have it pre-ordered). Her new book talks about how we can include hands on learning the the classroom for those students that learn, and see in pictures. I am so excited to be able to gain more and more knowledge from such an inspiring and famous person like Temple Grandin. There are really awesome things that can be learned at conferences especially the ones that you have an interest in going to. 

Image result for temple grandinFor anymore that is going into education I encourage you to watch Temple Grandin's ted talk (you will not be disappointed). Temple is open and she used her past experiences to be able to inspire and change the lives of those with Autism today. Temple graduated high school, and decided to continue her education and received a bachelors degree in animal science, but she didn't stop there, she actually obtained her doctoral degree in animal science from the university of Illinois. I am saying this because there is not a lot of support for students with Autism to further their education, or to have them take trade education classes in high school. I think that all students need to be able to be supported in subjects that they enjoy. Temple continued to say that she thinks that these students that can think in pictures are the best ones to be able to go into trade options, they have higher concentration levels and are able to think things clearly in their heads, they might not be able to explain it verbally but they can explain it with their hands.
Watch her movie, read her books, listen to her ted talk  and always remember "there needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child can do instead of what they cannot do."- Temple Grandin 

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