In Temple Grandin’s inspiring speech on TED.com titled “Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds,” she talks about how – as an autistic mind – she sees and thinks about the world around her in pictures.1 Grandin describes the minds of children and adults on the autism and Asperger spectrum as being unique and able to understand information visually. We can help these students better facilitate learning and pursue their talents by equipping them with visual learning tools.
How Grandin Thinks in Pictures
Grandin says that her thoughts originate first from pictures and sounds, like a movie in the mind, making the verbal or written aspect of language come secondary to her thought processes. Because of this, Grandin struggled with verbal communication and discovered later in life that her mind worked differently from others. Grandin argues that her visual thinking tendency and skills may be an origin for delayed speech among students with autism.2 However, she found that she had a great ability to visualize information and ideas and could even imagine detailed ideas in 3D to “pre-test” her logic before building contraptions for her work handling cattle.3
This is true for many students who are predominately visual learners and thinkers. As I described in my earlier post titled, “Do You See What I’m Saying?,” visual learners have a unique way of interpreting information. These students are respond to information presented visually and do not respond as well to verbal or written information. This is where visual learning strategies come into play. It’s often easier for these learners to generate ideas, assess information and manage their thoughts visually with graphic organizers, concept maps, mind maps and other visual mapping techniques. Visual learning with software like Inspiration®, Kidspiration® and Webspiration Classroom™ service, come naturally to students with autism and Asperger syndrome.
Utilize Visual Talents for Visual Learning Strategies
In her speech, Grandin talks about how her brain actually has a stronger Internet trunk line, or neurological channels to her visual cortex, than the average person, which would explain her strength in visual thinking. Research suggests that students on the autism or Asperger spectrum who have these strengths benefit from visual learning strategies that help improve communication skills.
According to a study in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, researchers found that pictorial representations of behavior could help manage students’ self-care in the absence of a treatment provider. These children would follow the picture sequence in various orders.4 This likely helped the students in the study to identify the way in which they were expected to behave in different scenarios. A graphic organizer could also be made with these pictures to help autistic students identify the appropriate behavior in different social scenarios.
Facilitate Thinking in Pictures With Visual Learning Tools
Grandin talks largely about how she’s worried that we’re not supporting these gifted minds enough with the tools and strategies they need to succeed in life. Inspiration Software’s visual thinking and learning tools can help students on the autism or Asperger spectrum to comprehend and create knowledge around any given subject. With Inspiration, Kidspiration and Webspiration Classroom students can:
- work at their own pace to brainstorm, organize, develop and synthesize ideas and information,
- generate ideas with multi-sensory learning,
- and tap into visual memory connecting ideas and using images, color and other visual queues.
So, utilize the visual talents of your students to help improve learning, writing, communication skills and more. For more information about Inspiration® Software tools and special needs, visit our website at www.inspiration.com/specialneeds.
See you next week!
Mona Westhaver
President and Co-founder, Inspiration Software
- “YouTube – Temple Grandin: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds.” YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn_9f5x0f1Q>. [↩]
- “Visual Thinking.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_thinking>. [↩]
- “THINKING IN PICTURES: Autism and Visual Thought.” Temple Grandin’s Web Page. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html>. [↩]
- “What Is the Research?” Use Visual Strategies for Autism. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://www.usevisualstrategies.com/VisualStrategiesInformation/WhatistheResearch.aspx>. [↩]
