Bright & Quirky Child Summit 2021: Tame The Overwhelm was a 5-day free online summit which aimed to help twice exceptional (2e) children - gifted children with ADHD, autism, learning differences like dyslexia, anxiety and/or depression. The conference featured 28 educators and psychologists who shared science-informed actionable strategies that promote social, emotional, and academic thriving even in tough times. The summit was hosted by Debbie Steinberg Kuntz, a licensed marriage and family therapist as well as the Founder of Bright & Quirky. Day 4 focused on neurodiversity and autism.
How Different Kinds of Minds Can Become Inventors and Engineers - Temple Grandin, PhD
Temple Grandin has been a pioneer in improving the handling and welfare of farm animals. Facilities she has designed for handling livestock are used by many companies around the world. She has also been instrumental in implementing animal welfare auditing programs that are used by McDonalds, Wendy’s, Whole Foods, and other corporations. Temple has appeared on numerous TV shows such as 20/20. Larry King Live, and Prime Time. Her books include: Thinking in Pictures, Livestock Handling and Transport and The Autistic Brain. Her book Animals in Translation has been on the New York Times bestseller list.
Dr. Grandin is a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. As a child, she had no speech and was considered severely autistic, but she had a strong passion for art and invention. When she was 15 years old, she had the opportunity to travel from the East Coast to Arizona in the West, where she was first introduced to the cattle industry. This exposure was critical in transforming her from a child who liked art into an inventor who revolutionised the cattle industry. She has worked in the cattle industry for years, designing equipment for handling cattle which is used all around the world. She credits her unique mind for her success, as she is a visual thinker who comes up with her inventions by imagining them first. She recounted this in her book ‘Thinking In Pictures’.
Dr. Grandin’s new book ‘Calling All Minds’ talks about famous inventors as well as her childhood projects, ranging from simple projects like paper snowflakes to more complicated projects like an optical illusion room. She lamented that most children today lack experience and are losing skills in making things, which are not only daily life skills but also potential job skills. This is exacerbated by the fact that the education system has removed most hands-on classes, such as woodwork shop, metalwork shop, autowork shop, cooking, and sewing. Children get interested in things they get exposed to, and a lot of children today are not getting enough exposure to different things to figure out what they like or dislike.
Dr. Grandin also observed that many autistic children today are addicted to video games, as mentioned in her book ‘The Loving Push’. She recommended weaning them off video games slowly, and replacing it with another activity which they might grow to like even more than video games. One suggestion would be to encourage autistic children to try out a skilled trade, such as fixing and reconditioning cars, which is likely to also be an in-demand job. Another suggestion would be to encourage autistic children to try out design and illustration, such as web design and graphic design, though the gig or freelance economy is quite overcrowded.
Dr. Grandin highlighted that that there are broadly three different kinds of thinking, as outlined in her book ‘The Autistic Brain’. A lot of people do not realise that other kinds of thinking exist apart from their own. When she first started working in the cattle industry, she mistakenly assumed everyone thought in pictures just like her; for instance, she could visualise what the cattle see and why they do not go through the chute. However, she noted that people can also have a mixture of the different kinds of thinking rather than one extreme way of thinking.
Visual thinkers, otherwise known as object visualisers, tend to like photorealistic art, be good in hands-on skilled trade and industrial design. The HBO film ‘Temple Grandin’ depicts visual thinkers very accurately.
Mathematical thinkers, otherwise known as visual spatial pattern thinkers, tend to be good in computer science and degreed mathematical engineering.
Word thinkers, otherwise known as verbal logic thinkers, tend to be good in language and psychology.
Dr. Grandin emphasised that different kinds of thinking are valuable as their skills complement each other. One example she gave was her grandfather’s friend, a visual thinker, had the idea of using three little magnetic coils to sense a magnetic field, while her grandfather, a mathematical thinker, was able to make it work. Together, the 2 men co-invented the autopilot for airplanes. Another example she gave was that in many food processing plants like big poultry plants, there is a pattern in the division of labour, in which visual thinkers and mathematical thinkers are in different parts of engineering. Visual thinkers like herself are mechanical engineers in the so-called ‘clever engineering department’, making conveyor systems and packaging rigs. On the other hand, mathematical thinkers are mathematical engineers who design refrigeration systems, boilers, roof trusses, electric powers. Different minds in the whole team work together to successfully complete a project; they are therefore equally important and deserve equal credit.
Dr. Grandin expressed her concern that many bright and quirky people are being given special needs diagnoses and getting screened out, denied of education and career opportunities. In particular, visual thinkers who struggle with abstract thinking are often underestimated, though they can actually be good skilled tradespeople. For example, although she has difficulty understanding abstract higher math like algebra, she has no problem understanding math for concrete problems like the area of an object. Moreover, her hands-on skills and visual thinking allows her to learn well on-the-job and excel in handbuilding machines.
When a child gets a special needs diagnosis, the emphasis is often on their weaknesses rather than their strengths. Although we can provide tests to figure out what kinds of minds they have, we should also observe their preferences at home and in school. For instance, visual thinkers usually prefer photorealistic art, mathematical thinkers usually prefer abstract art, and word thinkers usually do not seem interested in art or tools. Naming what a child is good at can help the child to build on their strengths and know what suitable career paths to explore. At the same time, we should avoid having preconceived notions about young children’s abilities and future plans, as new strengths might emerge at a later age. For instance, Dr. Grandin only began learning to read in third grade.
A paper titled ‘Genomic trade-offs: Are autism and schizophrenia the steep price for a human brain?’ discusses how the same key genes that contribute to the exceptional cognitive capacity of the human brain are also significant contributors to autism and schizophrenia, which are often considered abnormalities. Brains can lean towards being more cognitive or more social-emotional, and being very social consumes a lot of processing power. At what point does somebody who is super smart and a little less social deserve to be labelled disabled? Psychologists who evaluate special needs children tend to treat diagnostic categories as absolutes, when it is actually a continuum with no clearly defined lines.
All blogposts on Bright & Quirky Child Summit 2021:
Day 1 Talk 4 A Quick, Shareable Overview of Twice Exceptional (2e) Kids - Dan Peters, PhD
Day 2 Talk 8 Understanding High IQ Kids With ADHD and Co-Occurring Diagnoses - Thomas E. Brown, PhD
Day 3 Talk 13 How to Know When It's Time to Change Schools or Homeschool - Colleen Kessler, MEd
Day 4 Talk 17 How to Help Bright Kids Avoid Autistic Burnout - Kieran Rose
Day 4 Talk 19 How Different Kinds of Minds Can Become Inventors and Engineers - Temple Grandin, PhD
Watch this space for more blogposts from the Bright & Quirky Child Summit 2021!