Power Your Life Radio Show: Eustacia Cutler: Community, Early Intervention, Job Training and Brain Plasticity
Dr. Jo Anne White interviewed Eustacia Cutler on the Power Your Life Radio Show.
Listen to the interview she did with Eustacia Cutler by going here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jo-anne-white/2016/07/13/eustacia-cutler-autism-and-the-cultural-flow
Jo Anne White: It was a pleasure to have the esteemed Eustacia Cutler, internationally recognized author and keynote speaker on autism, as my guest on the Power Your Life Radio Show. Eustacia Cutler has so much wisdom and firsthand experience when it comes to autism, and an historical perspective as well, that helps families and also enlightens educators and professionals.Eustacia Cutler is the mother of Dr. Temple Grandin. Dr Grandin is an American professor of animal science with autism, and a world-renowned autism spokesperson and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior.
In this interview Eustacia spoke about the importance of community that seems to be missing today. She reflected on the community that Temple was brought up in: a community whereby people personally supported one another. Children and adults felt responsible for Temple and felt that they helped ‘raise her.’
It truly does take a village to raise a child as the African proverb says. Maybe we can’t bring back the ‘small town’ neighborhood flavor into our cities and towns, but there’s another way which has already begun. Grassroots community centers and organizations are growing whereby members know and look out for one another. Recognizing that autism is a family affair, many offer activities and support for the autism child, youth or adults and their families which promote more success.
Eustacia and I also talked about the need for job training and job placement, relevant for each youth and young adult, and that meets their individual functional and interest levels. She cautioned parents to accept their children’s gifts and limitations to more accurately help them connect with the right support system and find the true path.
For young children, Eustacia encourages early detection and early intervention. If you don’t feel that your child is developing normally, don’t wait; get the help and evaluation that you need to proceed.
I know from teaching children on the spectrum that being creative and resourceful are very beneficial. They helped me devise tools and strategies to successfully connect and teach my children, even sometimes unconventionally.
We discussed brain plasticity which is all about the brain’s ability to change throughout our lives. Our brains are able to reorganize themselves, forming new connections between brain cells. Emerging bio-neurological research is opening new possibilities and creating more understanding about autism, the neural nature of consciousness and much more.
Maybe you’ve heard about The Temple Grandin & Eustacia Cutler Autism Fund, a non-profit that contributes to free webinars with Eustacia Cutler and experts on autism.
