Autism pioneer Temple Grandin to lecture in Middletown on March 4
MIDDLETOWN — SUNY Orange will host a lecture by Temple Grandin on Tuesday, March 4, at 7 p.m., entitled "The Autistic Brain: Helping Different Kinds of Minds to be Successful."
The lecture with discussion and Q&A will be held at the Paramount Theatre, located at 17 South St., Middletown. A book-signing will follow.
Grandin will speak about her own life with autism and how the autistic brain sees the world differently. These differences include hypersensitivity to noise and other sensory stimuli, an ability to recall detail, and a primarily visual memory and thought process, that is thinking in pictures.
Creator of the 'hug box'
She has noted in her autobiographical works that autism affects every aspect of her life. She has to wear comfortable clothes to counteract her sensory processing disorder and has structured her lifestyle to avoid sensory overload.
She created the “hug box,” a device to calm those with autism. She advocates early intervention to address autism and supportive teachers, who can direct fixations of the child with autism in fruitful directions.
Regarded as one of the most famous people with autism, Grandin is a consultant and designer of livestock handling facilities and proprietor of Grandin Livestock Handling Systems, Inc. A professor of animal science at Colorado State University, she teaches courses on livestock behavior and facility design.
100 most influential people
An award-winning 2010 biographical film was made about her life with autism. She has appeared on television shows such as 20/20, 48 Hours, CNN Larry King Live, PrimeTime Live, 60 Minutes, the Today Show and many shows in other countries. Listed in the Time list of the one hundred most influential people in the world in 2010 where she was placed in the “Heroes” category, Grandin has also been featured in People Magazine, The New York Times, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Time Magazine, The New York Times Book Review and Discover Magazine.
She was named a fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. She earned a BA in psychology from Franklin Pierce College, an MS in animal science from Arizona State University, and a PhD in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Essential information
Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 children and free for students with college IDs.
They can be purchased online at middletownparamount.com or by calling the Paramount Theatre at 845-346-4195 or at the theatre box office, Monday through Friday, 1 to 4 p.m.
This lecture is sponsored by the Autism Society of the Hudson Valley and SUNY Orange Cultural Affairs. Questions may be sent to cultural@sunyorange.edu and (845)341-4891. Also visit www.sunyorange.edu/culturalaffairs.