Grandin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Eustacia Cutler and Richard Grandin. Although she was diagnosed with autism in 1949 at the age of two, she was labeled with brain damage and placed early in a structured nursery school. When a doctor suggested speech therapy for Grandin, her mother hired a nanny to assist in the child's development. The nanny would spend hours playing turn-taking games with Grandin and her sister.[3]