Understanding Autism for Dummies

Temple Grandin was born August 29, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a bestselling author, doctor and professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, and leader of both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements. Grandin was diagnosed with autism in 1950. She was immediately placed in a structured nursery, had speech therapy, and had a nanny spend hours playing turn-based games with her. At the age of four, she began talking and her progress continued.

In 1970, Grandin received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire. She received her master's degree in animal science from Arizona State University in 1975, and in 1989, she received a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Grandin, being a high-functioning autistic, is widely-known for her work in autism advocacy. She has been featured on major televisions programs such as the Today Show and ABC's Primetime Live. She has also been featured in Time magazine, People magazine, Forbes, and the New York Times. Grandin was the subject of the Horizon documentary "The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow" and was described by Oliver Sacks in the title of his narrative book: An Anthropologist on Mars.

Grandin's bestselling book: Thinking in Pictures is scheduled to be released as an HBO film in 2009. Grandin's Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human have also been bestsellers. Grandin lives in Colorado, but has speaking engagements on autism and cattle handling around the world.

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