Treffert Lecture Series Brings Temple Grandin To FDL

The first thing you notice when you meet Dr. Temple Grandin is she is direct and passionate. Growing up in the 1950s with autism wasn’t easy, but now she’s sharing her message with others as one of the leading experts on autism in the world. Friday she shared her views on autism to a packed gymnasium at Marian University in Fond du Lac. She says bullying about her autism wasn’t bad until she got to high school. She says developing specialized interests, in her case art, got her away from that and put her on the right path. She says kids also have to develop work skills. She says she started doing odd jobs at 13 and continued working through her teens. She says parents have to be careful not to be too over protective of children with autism. She says being exposed to different things is how a child is introduced to what eventually could become a career path for them. Grandin is one of the top livestock handling equipment designers in the world and teaches classes at Colorado State University. She was in Fond du Lac to speak at the Ninth Annual Treffert Lecture Series.