ASD (autism spectrum disorder)

• Development disability that can cause social, communication and behavioral challenges

• Learn, interact, and communicate in different ways

• Some need more help than others, some need no help at all

• May repeat behaviors, not want change

 

Signs and symptoms

• Avoiding eye contact

• Trouble understanding their own/ others feelings

• Preferring to be held/ cuddled, not wanting to be held or cuddled

• Repeating echo/phrases- Echolalia

• Can’t focus/ distractions

• Unusual reactions to taste, smell, sounds

• Have trouble changing routine

• Diagnosed by behaviors and actions

• No cure/treatment only improvement

• Social skills training, occupational therapy, parent management training, special education services, treating co-occurring conditions, medication

• “One in 59 children have been diagnosed with ASD”, Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network

 

Sensory

• Abnormal responses due to sensory; sound, touch, sight, smell, feeling of environment

• Auditory; most sensory triggered

 

Auditory

• Most sensory triggered

• Inability to regulate volume

• Difficulty using appropriate volume when speaking/ listening to TV/music

• Designing for Auditory space

  • When designing keep in mind; pitch (HZ), loudness(dB), reverberation, and signal to noise ratio

  • “In order to understand speech, one must be able to hear a range from approximately 500 to 6000 Hz

  • Understanding signal to noise ratio (SNR) is necessary for proper acoustical design

  • SNR is the difference between the decibels of the speaker’s voice minus level of background noise

  • Children need higher SNRs than adults to develop speech and language (classroom should be greater than 15)

  • Goal: help build tolerance to noise rather than canceling noise to help with independence 

  • Acquire quiet space

  • Hard surfaces should be avoided on walls, floors, and ceilings to reduce noise 

  • Sound absorbing panels over drywall 

  • Carpet, wood, curtains, cork boards help decrease noise

 

Sensory Rooms

• What is a Sensory Room?

  • Sensory rooms help teach children with autism and other behavioral health challenges to regulate their bodies in a way that allows them to achieve success in the classroom.

• Benefits of sensory rooms at school

  • Gain access to appropriate sensory stimulation

  • Bodies learn to adjust appropriately to sensory

  • Can enhance learning through occupational therapy (OT)

    • engages different areas of the brain, leading to improved information retention

  • helps children improve their visual, auditory, and tactile processing, as well as fine and gross motor skills

  • provides a sense of calm and comfort, sensory rooms help children learn to self-regulate their behaviors, which ultimately improves focus.

• Improved focus and information processing can make a significant impact on their ability to learn and engage with their teachers and peers. 

• for children who are non-verbal and struggle with behavioral challenges, being able to sign that they need access to this type of stimulation is an important step toward learning to advocate for themselves in the classroom

 

Equipment for Sensory Room

• Balance

  • Swings; hammocks, rocking horse etc

• Orientation of body in space

  • Weighted vests/ blankets, mini-trampolines, squeeze toys, and exercise balls, pop-up tubes etc

• Visual

• Aural

• Olfactory

 

Do’s and Don’ts

Lighting

• YES:

  • Natural Lighting

  • Dimmable Lights

  • Pelmet lighting (light source isn’t visible)

• NO:

  • Noisy/ Flickering lights

  • Fluorescent

  • Glare

Space-planning

• YES

  • Wayfinding (Good signage/labels) 

  • Divide areas into different spaces 

  • “Quiet rooms”

  • Independent rooms with room supervision 

  • Spacious Rooms

• NO

  • Long hallways (encourages “runners”)

Materials

• YES

  • Easily cleanable and durable

  • Texture

  • Cork Flooring

  • Insulated spaces for acoustics

  • Interactive Furniture

  • Brushed and combed cotton

  • Calm Colors

  • Sound absorbent flooring

• NO

  • Distractive Furniture/Materials 

  • Bright colors

  • No carpet

  • No tile

Building Systems

• YES

  • Good air circulation

  • Consistency 

  • Good organization

• NO

  • Too institutional

  • Distractive walls

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PERCEPTION, COGNITION, SENSATION

• Communication – Delayed or lack of ability to use speech for social communication or the use of speech in a non-functional manner

• Gestalt Perception – A week central coherence involves the inability to integrate details into a meaningful whole 

• Peripheral Perceptions- Prefer indirect eye contact 

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SIGHT

• Visual Sensitivities 

  • Sight is the sensory system one uses to see their surroundings. Someone with ASD will have a harder time exhibiting visual sensitivities such as auditory and tactile sensitivity. 

  • Visual sensitivities can be categorized as hyper-sensitive and hypo-sensitive

  • Someone on the spectrum will show signs of being hyper-sensitive by appearing to notice everything in their environment, avoiding eye contact, using peripheral vision to examine objects or people, and “inefficient eye gaze”

  • Someone on the spectrum that is hypo-sensitive may disregard people and objects in their environment, they only see the outline of objects

    • Some individuals may enjoy bright colors and bright lights, which is the complete opposite for someone who is hyper-sensitive

  • People with spatial strengths are able to visually manipulate images in their minds to understand complex patterns

 

• Lighting

  • Natural lighting

    • People with ASD can be more sensitive to light output changes, and repetitive behaviors will sometimes increase under fluorescent lighting

    • Having artificial lighting and lacking natural light tends to increase stress and discomfort

    • Designers should be considerate of the views outside of the windows when incorporating them into the space, some views may become a distraction

    • Having more than one wall of windows and doors in the space can become stressful to someone with ASD

      • Having multiple windows on the same wall side-by-side was a positive thing with a good source of natural lighting

      • But having too many windows can result in an overabundance of natural light in the space which could become hard to control

  • Artificial Lighting

    • Most fluorescent lighting can cause a flicker and a humming noise

      • Hyper-sensitive and repetitive behaviors were noted more in areas with fluorescent lighting

      • The flicker can also cause eye strain and headaches

    • Fluorescent lights that use high-frequency ballasts that do not flicker should be used in the classrooms

    • Also using LED lighting saved energy and also prevented students with autism from being bothered by the flicker or the humming noise

      • The preferred cool temperature of 3500 K 

      • Dimmers to control the levels of light

      • Most teachers want to be able to control the amount of light in their classrooms

    • Soft lighting was observed to be more relaxing and helped better academic focus

      • Classrooms should have blinds or curtains if they have windows, to help control the amount of natural lighting in the space

    • Visual triggers influence students with ASD behaviors, the source of light, the intensity of light, and luminance were all found to have greater effects on their behavior

      • Having a variety of light sources allow for easier control of light

        • Overhead (general) lighting, natural light, task lighting, and soft lamp light

  • Glare and Reflection

    • People who have neurodiversity could be distracted by the sunlight coming in through the windows

      • When individuals on the spectrum pass through the hallways in public spaces, the glare from the light reflecting off of surfaces may blur the lines of furniture or walls around them and they would walk into something

    • Using glazed or frosted glass on the windows will still allow for natural light to come through but without producing sharp shadows and glare, this will also help diminish distracting views from outside the windows

    • Reduce glare

      • Can reduce glare on whiteboards by tilting the board 5-10 degrees from the wall

      • Using matte surfaces will also reduce glare

        • Matte paint, carpet, wall coverings made of fabric 

 

• Color

  • Warm colors advance in space and cool colors tend to recede in spaces

    • Spaces that are painted in cool colors resulted in the spaces feeling larger, quieter, and cooler

    • Spaces that are painted in warm colors resulted in the space feeling more active, feeling smaller, warmer, and louder

  • Intense green color can stimulate people just as much as an intense red can

    • Large amounts of color can overstimulate people no matter the color temperature or preference 

  • People generally dislike spaces that have oversaturated or monotone colors

    • Students dislike stark white walls

    • Bright colors can tend to be painful or distracting for people with visual hyper-sensitivity

      • Light, warm, neutral colors are best

      • Can use one wall, preferably the one where student tend to look up from their work, could be painted a medium hue and the other walls remaining neutral

    • Use of colors should primarily be for function

      • Visual hypo-sensitive people use colors as wayfinding or as a tool to locate objects

      • Colored tape can be used to delineate pathways around the room

    • Cann be used as a reward or motivation

      • Activated upon completing a task successfully

      • Colored glasses or colored overlays helped to improve people with ASD on academic performance

      • Color choice should be based on the persons preferences

  • Physiological Reactions to Color

    • Color can effect changes in blood pressure, eye strain, and brain development

      • Red light causes the heart to beat faster, blood pressure to rise, and a heightened sense of smell

      • Blue causes pulse rate to slow down, and body temperature to lower

      • Pink causes people to be more calm

        • Suppressed the aggressive behavior in prisoners

    • People with ADHD had a “distorted color discrimination abilities”

    • ASD individuals rely on their vision to make sense of their world around them

      • Pictorial images help people with ASD identify steps and actions needed to compete certain tasks

  • Psychological Reactions to Color

    • Changes in mood and attention, the brain releases a hormone which affects the moods, mental clarity, and energy levels when colors is transmitted through the eye

    • Identifying differences in “lower functioning” individuals and “high functioning” individuals on the spectrum

      • Lower functioning children preferred the color red, round shapes, and sound/light equipment

      • Higher functioning children preferred blue and circular shapes

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AUDITORY

Applications 

• SNR*- “the difference between the decibel level of a speaker’s voice minus the level of background noise”

•  ” understanding signal to noise ratio (SNR) is necessary for proper acoustical design”

• Children need higher SNR

• Ex. Classroom should be higher than 15

• Structure of walls around environment can affect sound

• “2 layers of staggered studs, one layer housing sound-absorbing insulation and the other becoming an airspace and 2 sheets of drywall outside each stud”

 

Materials

• “Area of sound absorbing materials should be equal in area to floor area of room”

• Acoustical tiles (ceiling or wall)

 

Equipment

• When designing, duct-work should lead from inside a classroom to the hallway

 

Layout

• Staggering doorways down a hallway

 

Arch. Features

• Ceiling heights from 9ft-12ft tend to create most ideal acoustical conditions

• Windows should be located appropriately in order to reduce the amount of sound transmission from exterior and adjacent spaces

 

Things to Keep in Mind

• Environmental Noise

• Hyper vs. Hypo Sensitivity

  • Hyper- loud or physically painful 

  • Hypo- a child who fails to respond even when background is quiet 

• Controlling Noise

  • Should be addressed early during the planning phase 

  • Hard surfaces should be avoided to reduce noise and reverberation

  • Using carpet instead of vinyl 

 

Finishes

• Rubber or cushioned back resilient she (non-porous, easy to clean)

• Breathable fabrics 

• Window treatments

• Ceiling tiles, spray treatments, dec. baffles, clouds, woods

 

Soft Walls

• “Creates quiet and warm atmospheres”

• Soft paneling

 

Acoustic Panels

• Mineral wool 

• compressed foam

• fiberglass, rock wool, open cell polyurethane foam, cellular melamine foam, heavy curtain blankets and thick fabric wall covering

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TOUCH, TACTILE

Hyper-sensitive: This is the most prevalent sensory characteristic observed by children on the spectrum. 

• Light touch, pain, temperature, and pressure are all things to consider with hyper-sensitive children.

Hypo-sensitive: Someone with hypo-sensitivity may not have a grasp concept of personal space and does not notice when they touch other people. 

• Sensitive to clothing and have a high pain threshold.

 

Physical Activity

• “Hands-on” experiences with materials, especially in art they can gain better communication skills.

• Other options for physical activity could be planting, farming, cleaning, and caring for animals.

 

Tactile Defensiveness: A condition which the tactile system is immature or working improperly

• Over stimulation, excessive brain activity, difficulty to concentrate and organized behavior.

 

Deep Pressure

• Firm touching, holding, stoking, petting of animals, or swaddling. 

• Some things to consider adding would be swaddle blankets, weighted blankets, firm massages, and weighted vests can all add deep pressure.

 

Textures

• Soft textures/surfaces go over better than rough textures. 

 

Space

• Personal space is important to people with ASD. Providing space for them to be alone would be a good idea even in an educational setting.

• Also providing a space for someone with ASD to ease into a space.  

 

Temperature

• Children with ASD prefer to keep the thermostat low and wrap themselves in blankets. 

• Having heated flooring has also proven successful when regulating a balance for children with ASD

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PROPRIOCEPTIVE, VESTIBULAR SENSES

What is it?

The proprioceptive and vestibular senses are also known as the “hidden” or “inner” senses. Proprioceptive senses inform a person where his or her body parts are in space and appropriate amount of force needed to perform an activity. Vestibular senses help with movement, posture, visual perception, balance, spatial orientation / perception and coordination of both sides of the body.  

 

Behaviors 

Some of the overall behaviors of a child without these well developed senses can affect their ability to touch, see and hear. Also, they may not know where they are relative to space or have a sense of time. And their visual perception, balance, and coordination can be heavily influenced, causing significant challenges throughout daily life. 

 

Design Considerations and Techniques

The ways in which we can effectively design for children with ASD relies on understanding the challenges they face and utilizing techniques which aim to combat them. Here are some common difficulties experienced and the techniques and applications that can be used.

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