In her 2022 book "Visual Thinkers: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think In Pictures, Patterns and Abstractions," animal behavior scientist and autism rights advocate Temple Grandin described how there are different types of intelligence. Some people are gifted mechanically, Grandin pointed out; others at mathematics and abstract thinking; still others at the arts; and so on. Even though society often defines "intelligence" through the narrow prisms of test scores and other quantifiable metrics, Grandin points out that someone can be highly intelligent as a writer while struggling as a welder — and vice versa.
Perhaps the most important part of "Visual Thinkers," however — which is reinforced in her new book for young adults, "Different Kinds of Minds: A Guide To Your Brain" — is the way Grandin deconstructs the different types of autistic minds. Specifically, Grandin identified visual thinkers, musical/mathematical thinkers and verbal/logic thinkers. From there, she argues that our education system needs to be better tailored to help autistic individuals in all three categories realize their fullest potential.
