Autism –friendly design : The senses

People with autism do have to live some where,go to school and go to work , be it paid or
otherwise.somewhere . some will have to live in a treatment or long – stay facility. The way
these buildings are built and furnished can make a great deal of difference to their well-being
only think of the noise,present in all schools. For someone with auditory sensitivity, who
might experience this as two,three or even ten times as loud in volume compared to others,
this can be excruciatingly painful.

Soundproofing homes from neighbours,limiting acoustics, utilizing silent ventilation systems

and locating motors of extraction systems away from occupied area of the home are just some
of the counter – measures that can help make autistic life more bearable with regard to sound.

Large windows which let in too much sunlight should also be avoided, not only due to a
common oversensitivity to light , but also because of possible unwanted external distractions.
For instance, someone with autism can be so obsessively absorbed in observing traffic, that it
will distract them from doing anything else at all during the day. Internally , sunlight can also
cause overheating due to the greenhouse effect . however , to those on the spectrum it often
does not occur to take conscious measure such as taking off one’s sweater, opening a window
, or slowing down their activity to help counteract an increase in room temperature . so
overheating(or under cooling in the opposite case )for those people may happen . hence
maintaining good room temperature controls is important in any indoor environment.

RESOURCE -Article (PDF Available) in International Journal of Architectural

Research 2(1) · March 2008 .
Content uploaded by – Ar .Magda Mostafa .

Research conducted by AR .MAGADA MOSTAFA

The study shows the highest ranking of architectural factors influencing autistic behaviour as
acoustics and special sequencing by increased attention span ,reduced respose time improved
behavioural temperament, using an altered architectural environment. This indicators, when
combined , create a behavioural environment more condencive of learning and may increase
the autistic opportunity for skill acquisition and development.
The research has set the guidelines to be used by architects designing environment for autistic
users.
- The application of noise and echos treatment in areas such as speech rooms, although its application
may be beneficial in almost all spaces used for autistic instruction and particularly in those where long
attention spans, quick
responses and high levels of focus are required. Such spaces could include computer rooms, one to one
instruction rooms, sensory integration and neurological organization rooms. but to avoid the
‘greenhouse’ effect, where a child becomes dependant upon the optimum acoustical quality
of the room and is unable to function
and generalize his skills outside of it. This graduated series would allow the child to use the
fully soundproofed room during the critical stage of his autism, when such an intervention
may be the only way to initiate communication. Having mastered a fundamental group of
communications skills the child should then be moved to a moderately sound-proofed room
where he will begin to develop background noise filtration skills. This should continue
through the series of available rooms with the ultimate objective of functioning in as
acoustically normal an environment as possible.
The creation of an ‘escape space’ in learning spaces.This concept is based on the idea that it
is easier to add stimulation from an external temporary source, like a piece of sandpaper for
the hypo-tactile, or a moving mobile for the hypo-visual, or music for the hypo-auditory, than
to remove stimulation from the environment, like soundproofing for the hyper-auditory, or
changing textures for the hyper-tactile.
Just as escape spaces need to be conducive of the activity of ‘escape’ all other areas in the
classroom should be designed with each activity to be conducted in them in mind.
- compartmentalization capitalizes upon the autistic adherence to, and preference of, routine.
concept applied through the compartmentalization of the study group classroom. As seen
such compartmentalization limits the sensory environment which the child has to assimilate.
It shows to promote focus and concentration.
-This would involve developing designs emphasizing order, sequence and routine. Activities
could be arranged to follow a sort of ‘one-way’ circulation arrangement, according to the
daily schedule.the autistic user identifies the architectural environment around him or her in
accordance to sensory zoning rather than conventional functional zoning. Spatial groupings
could follow autistic logic and involve sensorial compatible functions. These groupings can
be accessed through a one-way circulation system, emphasizing, as well as capitalizing on,
routine, as discussed previously. For example high-stimulus functions like music, art, crafts
and psychomotor therapy, requiring a high level of alertness can be grouped together, while
low-stimulus functions like speech therapy, one to one instruction and general classrooms,
requiring a high level of focus, can be grouped together. Services, which are usually high-
stimulus, including bathrooms, kitchens, staff-rooms and administration, should be separated.
Only those requiring student accesses should be grouped near the high-stimulus zones and as
far as possible from the low-stimulus zones. The application of the concept of sensory zoning
could also reduce the problems of distraction and diversion. Keeping the sensory atmosphere
of each area as coherent as possible, could allow a more continuous circulation from one
space to another.
-When moving to or from an area of high sensory stimulus, the use of sensory “transition
zones”,
in the form of gardens or sensory curriculum areas, may help to prepare the child for such a
move with minimal distraction. It is hoped that such an arrangement would allow the child a
form of sensory calibration, in order to make the transition from these varying sensory zones
more fluid hence allowing improvement of navigational skills.

-This would serve two purposes, first, comfort to the child allowing him a commonly lacking
sense of orientation, and second ultimately allowing him ability to navigate these spaces
independently.

SOURCE- article on archdaily.

Author- Christopher Henry.

NEURO TYPICAL APPROACH

Similar to a mainstream school setting, Celebrate the Children, a school for children
with autism, lines its hallways with colorful banners, photographs, and student artwork. Parents
concerned with some of their children’s hypersensitivities often ask Monica Osgood, the
school’s director, if there is too much stimulation. Monica responds that her students need to
learn in ‘real’ world settings if they will ever have a chance to use their acquired skills outside of
the classroom. This logic for replicating ‘neuro-typical’ environments, argues directly against
 the sensory sensitive approach, and, with
reasons worth exploring. Individuals with
autism often have very poor generalization
skills. Therefore proponents of ‘neuro-
typical’ simulated environments claim that
sensory sensitive environments actually
cause less, not more, universal access and
integration into the larger population.
Whether or not there is any truth to this
claim is unknown. There are strong
arguments for and against the ‘neuro-
typical’ approach, but there are no
definitive studies comparing the sensory
sensitive approach to the ‘neuro-typical’
approach.

The first argument for the ‘neuro-typical’

approach is an argument against the
prevalence of sensory difficulties in autism.
Developmental Psychologist Uta Frith writes, “a question mark hangs over the sensory
phenomena, which are often reported but not currently required for diagnosis.” Psychologists
Meena O’neil and Robert Jones found that much of the early sensory research and conclusions
suffer “from serious methodical limitations.” Many of the early studies lacked appropriate
control groups and depended on “the limitations of retrospective parent-report methodology
typical of the area” for data collection. In regards to the first-hand accounts, O’neil and Jones
also point out that “a number of dangers are inherent in uncritically accepting these accounts at
face value and in any wider generalization to the autistic population as a whole.” Still, some
researchers, like Janet Kern, insist that more current research demonstrates that sensory
processing dysfunction persist globally throughout autism and affects “all the main modalities
and mulitsensory processing” systems. Others like Geraldine Dawson and Renee Watling
contend that “sensory processing abnormalities are not universal or specific to autism, the
prevalence of such abnormalities in autism is relatively high.” If sensory processing dysfunction
is not universal to autism then it might be hard to advocate for sensory sensitive environments if
they hinder generalization skill development, which appears to be a more universal difficultly
for individuals on the autism spectrum.
 In reality, you rarely hear proponents of the ‘neuro-typical’ approach denying sensory
processing difficulties. They simply believe sensory sensitive environments are more limiting
due to poor generalization skills. ‘Neuro-typical’ proponents are correct about poor
generalization skills in autism. Laura Klinger and Geraldine Dawson’s research, at the
University of Washington Autism Center, demonstrates that children with autism struggle
applying previously learned concepts in new situations. For instance, if an individual learns how
to use the bathroom in one particular setting s/he may not generalize this skill set to other
bathroom settings. This struggle exposes an intriguing difference between the wiring of a
‘typical’ brain and an autistic brain.

The majority of human cognitive systems possess a “built-in propensity to form coherence over
as wide a range of stimuli as possible, and to generalize over as wide a range of contexts as
possible.” Uta Frith explains that poor generalization skills may be the result of an autistic
brain’s propensity to discriminate between the finest of detail. “Autistic children might not be
prepared to see similarities at a more abstract level, and hence would fail to place stimuli into the
same category, even when they only differ in the tiniest detail.” Undoubtedly, if individuals are
unable to transfer skills they become imprisoned to the select few autism specific environments
where they acquired the skills.
REVIEW
The Neuro-Typical Design Theory focuses on improving autistic people’s skills to
generalize space and its function. By creating environments that have the same function but
have different sensory characteristics, patients should develop the capacity to adapt to
variations of the same kind of space. Also, because the environment is similar to usual urban
and public places, autistic people are bound to adapt over time to this kind of highly
stimulating context. As a result, treatment institutions have areas designed in such a manner
that they mimic usual outside spaces: transit areas look like streets and alleys, therapy rooms
look like classrooms or libraries, the cafeteria looks like a restaurant and so on.
In contrast with the sensory design theory, the Neuro-Typical Approach doesn’t have
any empirical evidence of its effectiveness. Because it is not directly involved in the process of
therapy sessions, this design method does not have an impact on the learning process, but rather on
the overall development of skills.
In order to be able to generalize different circumstances, people with autism first need to acquire the
knowledge and skills to be able to successfully understand and use the environment . Another
argument against the Neuro-Typical Approach is more of a criticism against society’s responsibility
towards autistic people. Why should the focus come on the requirement of autistic people to adapt to
present environment circumstances? Such as urban or public spaces have been manipulated in order to
accommodate the needs of people with motor or visual disabilities, so should be the case for
individuals with autistic spectrum disorders Moreover, the benefits of lower stimulus public
environments should also be beneficial to everyone else.