If you go
What: Temple Grandin School’s “Meeting of the Minds” talk
When: 5:30 p.m. doors open, talk starts at 6:30 p.m. April 4
Where: eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder
Cost: $100 general admission, $200 VIP
More info: templegrandinschool.org/?event=meeting-of-the-minds
Temple Grandin School is celebrating its five-year anniversary in Boulder by hosting a “Meeting of the Minds” talk on neurodiversity.
The talk also is a fundraiser for the small, private school, which serves 23 students with high-functioning autism in middle and high school. The school is looking to raise money for a bigger location and to provide more financial assistance for tuition.
Temple Grandin opened in the fall of 2011 and was started as a way to keep the former Bridge School going. Enrollment had declined at Bridge School, with many of the remaining students diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome — now no longer an official diagnosis — or similar learning challenges.
Seeing an unmet need, they began planning to become the first secondary school in the state to focus solely on students with high functioning autism.
“We wanted to open a school to really hone in on the needs of a growing number of students,” said Jen Wilger, the school’s executive director. “They’re not always well understood in traditional school settings.”
Four years ago, Christine Owens enrolled her son, Justin, now a junior, at Temple Grandin.
She said it became increasingly difficult for him to function in middle school with all the class changes, requiring him to adjust to different teachers, students and classrooms throughout the school day.
“He just wasn’t able to manage that,” she said.
At Temple Grandin, she said, he’s in a small school environment, with very small class sizes and lots of support. The school gives students space to take breaks if needed, she said, uses strategies like an all-school morning meeting to help ease transitions.
“Instead of being lost in a crowd, each one of these kids gets a lot of individual attention,” Owens said. “It frees up their brain and gets that noise out of the way. Their strength really comes through.”
For its fifth anniversary, Wilger said, the school wanted an event that reflected its focus on preparing students for life after graduation.
“We work on self awareness and self advocacy,” she said. “They really, truly understand what it looks like to be a person with Asperger’s in college and the workplace and the community.”
Speakers for the Meeting of the Minds talk titled “Cultivating a Neurodiverse Workplace” include the school’s namesake, Colorado State University professor Temple Grandin. Other speakers are CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney and author David Finch.
Instead of looking at neurodiversity as something that requires workplace accommodations, employers should look at it as an asset, said Lea Anne Paskvalich, Temple Grandin’s admissions director.
“We believe that neurodiversity can really spark innovation and creativity in the workplace,” she said. “People with autism or ADHD can bring a different perspective to problem solving. They have this creative and unique way of looking at things.”
Along with starting a conversation about neurodiversity in the workplace, school officials said, they’re hoping to raise money that could go toward both a bigger location and scholarships.
The school now leases space at 6446 Jay Road in Gunbarrel and doesn’t have room to increase enrollment, Wilger said. But, she said, it’s proving difficult to find a space that’s affordable, would work as a school and has the necessary zoning.
Being able to offer more financial assistance also would help the school with its goals of expanding and increasing diversity, she said.
“Autism doesn’t discriminate,” she said. “It affects everyone.”
Amy Bounds: 303-473-1341, boundsa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/boundsa
