Lauren Boothby
EDMONTON JOURNAL
3/14/2021
Temple Grandin looked at how astronauts spent their time on a space station to create a routine to help her throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal NATIONAL POST STAFF PHOTO // TORONTO February 06, 2009--Animal expert Temple Grandin poses for a portrait Marriott Residence Inn, 255 Wellington St. W. Toronto Friday, February 6, 2009. Grandin has designed ways to make livestock more comfortable. Brett Gundlock/National Post (For story by Adam McDowell, Weekend Post section)
Grandin was one of two high-profile autism lecturers, along with Ros Blackburn, who spoke to Edmontonians in a virtual conference by the Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton on Saturday amid COVID-19. They also highlighted what may be a difficult transition for some autistic people post-pandemic.
Getting up, taking a shower and getting dressed for work at the same time every day, regardless of what Grandin had planned for the day, and looking at astronaut’s routines on a space station has helped her cope, she said, and she recommends others do the same. Before the pandemic, she regularly travelled for speaking engagements.
“They have a schedule. They wake up in the morning, they have to get dressed, they can’t be in just whatever they sleep in, do their scientific work, do their maintenance, and then they have a mid-day meal … and then they have their exercise,” she said.
“And then they have time to have fun.”
While many have experienced mental health issues from isolation, a lack of physical and social contact with people, Blackburn said that hasn’t been her personal experience.
“As someone with autism, it’s actually been really quite refreshing to be able to not have to make social contact. I’ve been able to keep myself very occupied as well,” she said at the conference.
But once the pandemic ends, routines will shift again, and the transition may be difficult, she said.
Blackburn said she’s dreading going back into the world and it might be a lot to handle.
“Whether I will have regressed and lost some skills, we don’t know. I’m not going to get worried about it. We will face that if we need to. I think I will be I will feel very overwhelmed, the world will seem huge … it’s daunting,” she said in an interview after the meeting.
“I can’t at the moment envisage being motivated enough to make a huge effort … mix with other people to, to play the social game, as it were.”
The transition back is something she thinks everyone, regardless of if they are autistic or not, will find a challenge to navigate.
Terri Duncan, executive director of Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton, said some autistic children found going between learning in the classroom to distance learning, and back and forth between as rules changed during the pandemic, has been difficult for them and their families.
She said some kids have been overwhelmed with anxiety during the pandemic and struggled with learning online, and have been wanting to spend more time outside.
“COVID has really, really pushed them into a difficult place with their mental health with their anxiety, and COVID has made them so anxious,” she said in an interview after the meeting.
“The regression is something we worry about with our kids, and it is something that we have to keep an eye on.”
While some avoided following the latest COVID-19 developments in the news, both Grandin and Blackburn said they dealt with fear through knowledge, reading a lot of research about the disease and it made them feel less afraid.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal NATIONAL POST STAFF PHOTO // TORONTO February 06, 2009--Animal expert Temple Grandin poses for a portrait Marriott Residence Inn, 255 Wellington St. W. Toronto Friday, February 6, 2009. Grandin has designed ways to make livestock more comfortable. Brett Gundlock/National Post (For story by Adam McDowell, Weekend Post section)Grandin was one of two high-profile autism lecturers, along with Ros Blackburn, who spoke to Edmontonians in a virtual conference by the Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton on Saturday amid COVID-19. They also highlighted what may be a difficult transition for some autistic people post-pandemic.
Getting up, taking a shower and getting dressed for work at the same time every day, regardless of what Grandin had planned for the day, and looking at astronaut’s routines on a space station has helped her cope, she said, and she recommends others do the same. Before the pandemic, she regularly travelled for speaking engagements.
“They have a schedule. They wake up in the morning, they have to get dressed, they can’t be in just whatever they sleep in, do their scientific work, do their maintenance, and then they have a mid-day meal … and then they have their exercise,” she said.
“And then they have time to have fun.”
While many have experienced mental health issues from isolation, a lack of physical and social contact with people, Blackburn said that hasn’t been her personal experience.
“As someone with autism, it’s actually been really quite refreshing to be able to not have to make social contact. I’ve been able to keep myself very occupied as well,” she said at the conference.
But once the pandemic ends, routines will shift again, and the transition may be difficult, she said.
Blackburn said she’s dreading going back into the world and it might be a lot to handle.
“Whether I will have regressed and lost some skills, we don’t know. I’m not going to get worried about it. We will face that if we need to. I think I will be I will feel very overwhelmed, the world will seem huge … it’s daunting,” she said in an interview after the meeting.
“I can’t at the moment envisage being motivated enough to make a huge effort … mix with other people to, to play the social game, as it were.”
The transition back is something she thinks everyone, regardless of if they are autistic or not, will find a challenge to navigate.
Terri Duncan, executive director of Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton, said some autistic children found going between learning in the classroom to distance learning, and back and forth between as rules changed during the pandemic, has been difficult for them and their families.
She said some kids have been overwhelmed with anxiety during the pandemic and struggled with learning online, and have been wanting to spend more time outside.
“COVID has really, really pushed them into a difficult place with their mental health with their anxiety, and COVID has made them so anxious,” she said in an interview after the meeting.
“The regression is something we worry about with our kids, and it is something that we have to keep an eye on.”
While some avoided following the latest COVID-19 developments in the news, both Grandin and Blackburn said they dealt with fear through knowledge, reading a lot of research about the disease and it made them feel less afraid.
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