Each one of us have different level of thinking capacity, each one of us is unique, not

everyone are born with a mind that is consider as “normal”. There are individuals who are born
with Autism, and according to a report last 2018 by the Disease Control’s Autism and
Developmental Disabilities Monitoring or ADDM, approximately 1 in 59 children in the United
States has been identified with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Autism, or autism spectrum
disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social
skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal communication. As a requirement for our
course subject of Developmental Psychology, we were tasked to watch and create a video
reflection of a short video about Autism through the mind of an individual who were diagnosed
with Autism as a child.
The speaker on the short video with the title “The world needs all kinds of minds”,
Temple Grandin, was diagnosed with Autism when she was a child. Now a professor of animal
sciences for more than 20 years, she talked about how her autism allows her to think in pictures
and that ability has made her a visionary in her field. She talked about how she thinks through
pictures, and not through language. At the start of the video, she talked about that in order to
fully understand autism, you should look through animals, and ignore verbal language. She also
told the audience how the autistic mind is so keen to details, unlike the normal brain wherein it
ignores most of the detail. According to Temple Grandin, she is thinking in pictures, and it’s
almost like movies in your head. I was amazed when she said that she could test-run a piece of
equipment through her mind, almost like a virtual reality running a simulation. She also added
that autistic mind is a specialist mind, which means good at one thing, and bad at another. I was
also in awe when she said that aside from visual thinker, there are also pattern thinker, which
leans more in the abstract side. Temple Grandin also told her audience that an individual make
his/her mind to be more of a thinking and cognitive mind, or the mind can be wired to be more
social. What she said is evident on the theory of Jean Piaget, which is the theory of cognitive
development (1936). In Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, explains how a child
constructs a mental model of the world. Jean Piaget disagreed with the idea that intelligence was
a fixed trait, and regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological
maturation and interaction with the environment. The speaker also told the audience that an
autistic mind tends to be fixated, and we can use that fixation to motivate and teach a kid. For
example if a kid is a visual thinker, they can develop their skills and do graphic design stuffs,
photography, and industrial design. Those children who are pattern thinkers can grow up to be
mathematician, software engineer, or computer programmer. She also stated that they just need
the right mentors. When it comes to job, autistic minds also need to have a specific instruction,
according to Temple Grandin. According to her, we need to think about these different kind of
minds, because we are going to need those kind of people in the future.
After watching the short video, I was amazed about how talented and creative Temple
Grandin is. I was amazed when she told the audience about how an autistic mind works. The short
video is very informative, it is really helpful especially to those parents who are raising an autistic
child. Listening to a person with autism talks about how she thinks, how she developed her skills,
and how she used her autism to discover her passion is just beautiful. I also realize that many
people still have that stigma about people with autistic mind, some of them think that people who
VIDEO REFLECTION ON CHAPTER 6: SPECIAL CHILDREN; SPECIAL NEEDS 1

are autistic are considered as incapable of normal thinking. It was sad that many autistic children
cannot fully develop their skills and cannot fully express their thoughts because they lack proper
way of teaching and mentoring. With proper guidance and help, people with autism can fully
develop their skills and be able to discover their talents, but that is not just for children with
autism, it can also be apply to other special children with special needs. Temple Grandin is right,
we need to think more about those different minds. , and it is true that the world need all kind of
minds.