Special Olympics 2016 Games

        Last weekend Robb participated in the 2016 Special Olympics Games. He did one unassisted  race and one assisted race that I got to coach him in. For the first time in his Special Olympics a coach did not have to jump in to get him out of the pool in his unassisted, so even though he did walk a little in the shallow end, he managed to finish the race all on his own! He also managed to win the gold medal in his assisted swim race, and though he did not want to wear it very long, I think he was very pleased. I was also very happy to see they dedicated the pre-staging area to Tressie Shavers, a woman who died during her race last year, and the medal ceremony area was dedicated to another athlete.
      All and all this was a great season. I got to start coaching Robb, he swam the unassisted race without any help, and the whole team did great earning bronze, silver, and gold medals with very positive demeanors.

Temple Grandin

   

      In a CourSera course on autism I recently took, I watched some videos, including a HBO documentary, on Temple Grandin, and after watching them I think she is one of the most influential people in autism awareness. As a child Temple was diagnosed with autism, and her mother was told she should be institutionalized. Her mother refused and did everything she could to help Temple develop the skills that other children her age had. She was able to stay with her family throughout her childhood, but later boarded for high school for the best education she could get. While in high school, she had a science teacher who discovered she had a photographic memory that would lead to much of her success later in life. The summer before she went to college Temple visited her aunt's farm and became fascinated with cows. She then used her observations to create a revolutionary livestock handling equipment design that beef companies in America rely on today. She went on to receive her PhD in  animal science and is now one of the most famous adult with autism. She uses her fame to provide awareness to the autism community and tell people what it is like have autism. She has shown the world that people with autism are "different....not less."