MANSFIELD, Ohio–“On a personal level, her DVD, Sensory Challenges and Answers, changed the way I parent my son. I know many people in this room have connected to something that Dr. Grandin has written, spoken, or designed,” Elise Riggle said as she introduced Temple Grandin.
An audience of approximately 900 people were at the Mid-Ohio Education Service Center Thursday to hear Grandin speak about autism. In the audience were area teachers, professors of The State University at Mansfield, and representatives of agencies and parents, family members and individuals who are impacted by autism.
Riggle, the Director of Student Engagement at The Ohio State University at Mansfield helped organize Grandin’s visit to Mansfield, but she is also a mother with a son on the autism spectrum.
Trey is 8 years old; he will be 9 on Monday. He is in the second grade at Mifflin Elementary (Madison District). Both his one-on-one aid and his second grade classroom teacher attended the lecture tonight and were praised highly by Riggle for their work with Trey.
Trey was diagnosed in the summer of 2008 with severe autism but now would be considered PDD-NOS, a pervasive developmental disorder, she said.
“He is a sweet, sweet boy,” Riggle said. He was at the lecture along with his brother Nathan, 7.
As Trey and Nathan waited for the lecture to begin, Trey intently watched vacuum cleaner videos on an iPad. He enjoys vacuum cleaners and studying their capabilities on film so much that for Halloween his grandmother made him a vacuum cleaner costume. He also enjoys leaf blowers; he said he likes the way they blow leaves.
Writing is his favorite thing to do in school. “What is the super hero’s name you made up,” his mother asked.
“Vacuum man,” Trey answered. He also said his favorite vacuum cleaner was a Dyson.
Nathan encouraged Trey to talk about tractors and motorcycles, too. Their mother said Nathan, through all of this, has developed an empathetic heart.
“He takes care of his brother, he takes care of me; he takes care of everybody. He’s real sensitive,” she said.
Elise Riggle said her son was a normal infant but had a reaction to a flu shot in 2008.
“He started seizing about an hour after a flu shot,” she said. “It’s controversial when I say things like that because ‘Vaccines don’t cause autism.’”
Riggle added that it also could be that Trey would have developed autism in another way, perhaps a genetic predisposition, she said.
But he was developing normally and met all of his milestones prior to receiving the flu shot. “He had language,” she said, “But after he started seizing, he lost all of his muscle tone. He lost everything. It took us a while to figure it out. He was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms in December of 2008 and they told us not to Google it because the prognosis was not good.”
But her sister did the research for her. They learned that the medication he was to control his seizures, ACTH, could have been life-threatening, but it was to control the seizures of which he had 100s a day.
“He was sick for a long time,” said Riggle. “It was hard. In December 2009 was when we saw the last clinical seizure. He still has abnormal brain activity and he has ADHD. But when he was diagnosed, they said he was severe. He had no language and stared at the back of his hand. That’s it. He had severe sensory issues, but now he’s mostly just developmentally delayed and totally into vacuums.”
Nathan Black and Tammi Eder, who have both received services at Richland Newhope, also attended the lecture. They plan to be married this year.
“I first heard about Dr. Grandin from a family member of mine. And she [Grandin} has always talked about what her views are, and she is awesome for also being on the spectrum,” said Black. He said he was diagnosed with autism in 2008.
Black works at an autism center as a staff aid in Mansfield. Eder has had her own business since 2007. She operates a snack bar in the Richland County administration building. She offers candy, muffins, chips and Pepsi products.
After the lecture Riggle said, “I was overwhelmed by the response from the people who attended her lecture. Dr Grandin was so great. Her lecture was informative and funny. Parents, teacher and counselors alike got so much out of it. I really enjoyed the spirit of the audience as people were walking out. There was such joy on peoples’ faces as they were leaving.
“They were so happy to have had the opportunity to hear her speak. And she talked with every single person who wanted to speak to her after the show. She was gracious and kind. For me, as both the event organizer and the mother of a child with autism, it was the collision of my profession and personal life, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Richland Newhope supports individuals with developmental disabilities, including autism; and a number of their staff members attended Grandin’s lecture.
“We had completed 23 ADOS assessments in 2014 that resulted in 10 children being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder before the age of 6,” Carla Rumas Director of Educational Services and Therapy Services said.
According to the Autism Society of Ohio., there are 60,000 individuals living with autism in Ohio. And about 1 percent of the world population has autism spectrum disorder, according to a 2014 report from the Center for Disease Control.
Temple Grandin is one of the world’s most well-known adults with autism and a professor of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University. She has five honary degrees and has written nine books. She talks about her life, her work, and the importance of early intervention for children on the autism spectrum.
