Autism In The Movie Temple Grandin

The movie Temple Grandin tells the story of a girl diagnosed with Autism as a toddler in the early 1950’s. During a flashback scene we see the doctor tell her mother that Temple should be institutionalized because she is an “infantile schizophrenic”, which at the time was another way to say someone was autistic. The doctor even goes as far as to say that Temple will probably never speak a word and that it may be because of a lack of bonding with her mother to blame for her autism. Temple’s mother doesn’t accept the idea of institutionalization and works so hard to teach her daughter how to pronounce words. She never gave up on her daughter and refused to believe that she wouldn’t ever speak. In the movie Temple says “my mom never gave up on

Temple’s mom mentions that she was kicked out of her other school for hitting another student, but only did that because she was provoked. When Temple visits the school with her mother she is fascinated by all of the science experiments that she sees. When she meets Dr. Carlock who is the head of the science department we see how he and Temple instantly take a liking to each other, they end up forging a friendship that lasts for years. Temple’s mom remembers the doctor telling her to institutionalize her daughter all those years ago and feels that if she leaves her at the boarding school she is giving up on her. Dr. Carlock expresses that they would love to have her and comes to realize how very intelligent Temple is. He realizes how Temple thinks in pictures and tells his colleagues how smart Temple really is despite being autistic, and that they should allow

Dr. Carlock showed a film about distorted images to his class and challenges Temple to try and figure out how to build an example, she didn’t stop until she successfully figured it out and built one. The school environment is perfect for Temple, it’s quiet and not very crowded and she is amongst animals which are what Temple loves more than anything besides science. Temple ends up thriving at the Hampshire Country Boarding school and eventually graduates and is set to start college. Temple spends the summer before she is to begin college on her aunt’s cattle ranch. As Temple arrives at the farm we see that she is fascinated by the gate. She asks if she can get out to open it and we see how her mind is scientifically figuring out measurements and angles on how to improve the gate. We see that she is thinking in pictures and she eventually designs an elaborate pulley system to open the gate without having to get out of the car. While on the farm Temple is so happy to be among the animals and is fascinated when the cows go into the gate contraption and it “gentles them” or calms them