Grandin links visual thinking, autism and animal-assisted activities; warns about technology and long wait lists

Dr. Temple Grandin told a Missoula audience that her own visual-thinking cognitive style helped her understand animal behavior and that animal-assisted activities, including therapeutic riding, can help autistic children. "Language is not required for thought," she said, describing how some people think in pictures and patterns rather than words.

Grandin cited a study by Katie Peters in her department comparing therapeutic riding, guided time in a park garden and a wait-list control; she said both horses and the garden produced benefits compared with wait-list control and that the garden showed some efficacy even where horses were not available. She said long wait lists — "3 years old, no spades, 2 year wait list" for services in some places — are "absolutely unconscionable" and urged community engagement and volunteer programs such as 4‑H and retirees helping with youth programs.

Grandin also expressed concern about children’s screen time and its effect on learning social and practical skills. She recommended limiting passive device use to short, supervised periods and advocated teaching practical responsibilities (for example, giving a child a small amount of money to make a purchase) to build social competence. She urged cross-discipline outreach: contacting schools, autism societies and community groups to broaden access to programs.

On therapeutic mechanisms, Grandin emphasized that animals provide nonverbal, bottom-up experiences that can build routines and social interaction; she also noted that some therapeutic benefit may come from nature exposure alone. She answered audience questions about whether social species can show autism-like traits by noting temperament is a continuous trait and that mild social variation is common across species.