Temple grandin , is she right?

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Temple grandin : Autistic kids should be doing real programming, not ``playing with stupid video games"

is she right?

I find this is harsh little bit ....ok autistic kids may become really good in programming and productives but autistic kids are ... afterall kids , not machines and they need fun too.

what do u think?

What the hell is she talking about?


You would think someone with PhD wouldn't make such a fallacious statement

But programming is fun. I don't understand what you mean.

Let me guess, its a statement made from someone who has no clue what it's actually like to have autism?

Autistic kids know what fun is and need it just as much as those without autism do. They are not robots.

No. Temple Grandin is autistic herself.

As a kid, I played tons of video games. Actually, wanting to making video games and computer games is what initially lead me to be interested in programming. I never liked mathematics, and I imagine, if I jumped into programming without a proper impetus, I would feel the same way about it, too.

You're definitely right that autistic children need to have fun just like any other children.

I think that all kids should be able to have fun and be kids, regardless of whether they have Autism or not.

Hmmm I must have been having a silly moment when I wrote that, I'm a natural blonde, I'll blame that. In this case I don't know what she said that for, it seems as dumb as my blonde moment.

Neither - they should be out playing in the park, getting fresh air, exercise & soaking up vitamin D3!

When and in what context did she say that anyway? I'm missing a link to the source.

Is that really what Temple Grandin thinks in general on it or did she pull a GWB?

IMO I think kids with AS and autism need videogames, need sports, need partying, need all that stuff just because they need something that will counteract the rigidity that it puts over people. Regardless of how smart they get with programming people just don't wanna work with someone who's too tightly wound, can't have fun, and yeah - that's unfortunately something that can make someone almost unemployable. I think Temple might wanna reconsider that.

I find this offensive, not only because autistics are people and all people (and animals, even!) need some kind of fun/pleasure/entertainment, but also because not all autistics are the kind that's good with programming. I'm terrible with anything math or science oriented--that's just not the way I think. Hell, anytime I do learn some kind of math I forget it a week or so later and need it retaught.

http://www.computerworld.com/news/1997/story/0,11280,3732,00.html

i am not a real programmer but the programming may be fun too .. i find it fun( i study business computing ) ...but i don't think this wat she meant .....she obviously meant that autistics kids must not wasting time by playing (video games or maybe other "stupid" kids' activities)

I agree with Grandin. Autistic kids need to focus on things that will benefit their future. We should not allow ourselves to become inferior. That does not mean that we should destroy ourselves in the pursuit of employment, however, fun as a child does not justify unemployment and feelings of inferiority as an adult. I believe it is important that we find ways to make ourselves useful to society as it is easy for society to ridicule the incompetent but more difficult for them to ridicule the talented and useful.

I've seen that firsthand with my sister's boyfriend too. For him, programming IS fun. He loves it and spends as much time doing it as he possibly can, and he says he started doing stuff like that when he was only 4 or 5 years old. It all worked out for him - he finished school a few months ago and this week he just started his first professional job - a high-paying job programming.



I can definitely see that side of things too, especially with the way this past week has been going for me. That rigidity, obsessiveness, etc seems to be at an all-time high and I know I'm really annoying everyone around me. (As a kid my parents didn't know anything about autism or AS, but I was allowed to be as rigid and routine as I wanted - in fact I think it was encouraged and that's something I wish my parents had done differently.) Just last night I walked into the living room to find my sister's boyfriend sitting in the spot where I usually sit. Something minor like that shouldn't have been a problem, but this time it threw me off so much that I couldn't even sit down even though there were lots of other spots. A few minutes later we went into the kitchen to get our supper and brought it back into the living room - my sister's boyfriend, who understands what it's like to be so rigid about certain things, stayed back and said, "You go in there first and sit wherever you wanna sit." That made it easier for me, but at the same time I think it would have been better for me if they forced me to sit somewhere else. So anyway, getting back to the programming vs video games etc for kids, I think kids definitely need to be doing a variety of things - don't let em get so rigid. Yeah, autistic kids need routines and stability etc, but I've gotta say it's best to keep that stuff to a minimum right from an early age. My sister and my husband have been conspiring against me over the last couple of months since she moved in - trying to shake up the obsessive side of me, get rid of some of that rigidity... the way she explained it to him though was "You can only do little things. There's a line that you can't cross - you just want to mess her up a little bit, you don't wanna make her crazy." That's probably why my obsessiveness seems to be getting worse lately - a natural response to those little things they're doing. I'm expecting that after a rough patch it should get better though - better than it ever was before. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing some self-improvement in that area.

Last edited by neongrl on 23 Mar 2006, 9:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

I agree 100%. First kids should sort out their brains, then have fun. Kids are spoilt SO much these days.