by David Leestma, AIA
According to the Center for Disease Control,
the number of students with autism is growing rapidly. From 2000 to 2014 the
prevalence of autism in children has gone up from 1 in 150 to 1 in 59 due to
better recognition of the condition. However, the educational system for those
with autism has not caught up to the growing population. The students are often
overlooked by school districts and given classrooms that are detrimental to
their senses. In order to serve the needs of autistic students, new facilities
need to be built and current facilities need to be adapted in order to
accommodate this growing population.
To understand the specific accommodations and
requirements for an autistic user, it is imperative to understand what autism
is. Autism is not a single disorder, but a spectrum of closely-related
disorders albeit with a shared core of symptoms. Every individual on the autism
spectrum has problems to some degree with social skills, empathy,
communication, and flexible behaviors. The major symptoms of autism are social
communication difficulties, language disabilities, and repetitive behaviors,
with many related signs and symptoms including sensory perception problems,
emotional difficulties and uneven cognitive abilities. The area where
architects can make the biggest impact is in designing buildings that mitigate
these sensory issues.
Sensory
perception issues and autism
The sensory perception issues that affect
autistic individuals have a direct impact on their performance in the
classroom. They affect the way an autistic individual processes information and
learns. With respect to how the brain of an autistic individual works in
relation to learning, there are three basic categories in which those with
autism can be grouped into in: sensory oversensitivity, perceptual problems,
and difficulties organizing information.
Sensory oversensitivity varies from child to
child. It can range from mild (slight
anxiety when the environment is too loud, too bright, or too chaotic) to
severe, with an individual going into a screaming tantrum every time he or she
is in a place such as a large, noisy supermarket. Some individuals on the
spectrum are attracted to objects that move rapidly and others will avoid them.
When senses are disordered, the attention and concentration that learning
requires becomes difficult and in some cases, impossible. Children who spend
their days fearful of people and places who, through past experience, have been
overwhelmed by their senses, have little chance to relax enough to take notice
of the learning opportunities being presented. This makes the teaching and
learning process very difficult for the children because they have to be in an
environment in which they feel safe and that they understand.
Problems with perceptual issues often
determine the style of learning that will be most effective. A child with poor
auditory perception may hear sounds poorly and perceive the sounds coming in
and out like poor phone reception. This child is more likely to learn best with
visually presented information. On the other hand, a child with visual
perception problems may learn best through the auditory channel as auditory
information will be easier for them to process. Some nonverbal individuals have
both visual and auditory processing problems. They may learn best through their
sense of touch and smell. For instance, to learn to dress they may need to be
hand-over-hand “walked” through putting on socks or pouring cereal. They may
learn letters and numbers best when they can touch them, and trace their shape
with their hands or fingers. Representative objects rather than visual charts
can be useful in helping these individuals know when it is time to transition
to a new activity. Schools need to be
adaptable in order to teach students with all degrees of perception issues and
be able to adapt the environment to a student’s specific needs.
Some individuals may be able to receive
information, but have trouble organizing it or making sense of the information.
Some individuals may be hearing words correctly, but not understanding them.
Problems with organizing information affect a child’s ability to form
categories that are the foundation for later concept formation. Difficulties
that people on the spectrum have with multi-tasking would also fall into this
category. These difficulties are highly variable and range from mild to severe
depending on which brain circuits connected and which ones did not.
An autistic student's ability to learn in a
traditional classroom is often compromised because of the difficulties
previously described. The schools which are able to adapt to their students’ needs
and offer flexible learning methods and learning environments are able to have
a much greater influence on the lives of their students.
Principles
of design
In order to design an appropriate learning
environment for autistic students many factors need to be taken into
consideration. Special attention needs to be placed on the stimulus level of
spaces, when programing. Quiet spaces, such as classrooms, should be laid out
far away from noisy areas such as the gym and cafeteria. By looking at common
sensory problems, a series of principles can be made to use as the basis of
design for an autism friendly school. These principles outline strategies to
reduce distraction from excess stimuli, to determine how the building should be
organized as a whole, and how the building itself should be constructed.
Acoustics
Parents and teachers ranked acoustics as the
most influential feature of the sensory environment on autistic behavior. Loud
noises and sounds from things such as movement and mechanical systems should be
mitigated through design. In most cases the sense of calm that comes with
quieter spaces encourages better behavior in students and allows them to focus
on learning. Special attend should be paid to material selection to limit
reflected noise.
Lighting
The use of direct fluorescent lighting should
be avoided. Individuals with autism are very vulnerable to the sub-visible
flicker, which can cause headaches, eyestrain, and increased repetitive behavior. Lighting also needs to be controllable
because different activities require different amounts of light. Natural light
improves academic performance, relaxes students, permits better concentration,
and reduces hyperactivity in children. However views to the outside and other
distractions should also be controllable to prevent students from being
distracted by what is happening outside, which can be done though clerestory
windows or translucent glazing.
Colors
and materiality
85% of autistic children see colors with far
greater intensity than a neurotypical student. Because autistic individuals may
have a significant increase in color differentiation, small changes in color
can dramatically affect their behavior.
Grids and busy patterns should be minimized in areas that require
student to focus, such as a classroom. Minimizing any offending stimuli can
help improve autism spectrum students’ ability to perform successfully in the
classroom.
Adaptability
Spaces should be created to permit change depending
on the children’s needs and to allow the students and teachers to rearrange or
subdivide the spaces as needed. Finishes, materials, and spatial organization
should be able to be manipulated not only by the staff but also by students. An
environment which is able to adapt and change to the user’s needs is able to
perform more functionally than a room with a set purpose. The environment could
also change stimulus level based on the activity, divide the space up into
multiple small areas of activity, or exist as one large space. However, if the
environment is too flexible an individual might live in constant fear that the
environment will suddenly be changed.
Transitions
Spaces should flow as seamlessly as possible
from one activity to the next and should be organized in accordance to their
sensory quality rather than the typical architectural approach of functional
zoning. For example instead of placing a school gym near the classrooms as they
are closely related in their function and user, it would be better to place
them in opposite areas with administration placed between them even though
there is little programmatic relationship between those spaces. With
transitions between areas of high stimulus to areas of low stimulus or from one
activity space to the next, there should be a threshold space which allows the
student to recalibrate their senses. Without the transition space, the shock of
going from an area of low stimulus to high stimulus could trigger inappropriate
or disruptive behavior from students.
Predictability
Students with ASD will often feel nervous when
navigating spaces that are unfamiliar to them so the arrangement of structures
should made so that they are easily understood and encourage choices as well as
problem solving and discovery. The importance of legibility, imaginability, and
redundant cueing come into play when those with ASD are navigating buildings.
Classrooms and schools should be easy to read with clear signage, numbering,
and configuration. The environment must be memorable and describable in terms
of specific landmarks to create a space for students to be able to recall.
Escape
Spaces/Quiet rooms
Students need spaces that provide areas of
respite from the over stimulation in their environments. Having such spaces in
a school has been shown to have a huge positive effect on students in a
learning environment because the class and other students can often overwhelm
the sensory input of an autistic individual through the stimuli that
accompanies a neurotypical classroom setting. Being able to experience an
outdoor environment is also important as the fresh air and nature can have a
calming effect on the students. Creative outdoor areas can provide students and
adults with special needs the opportunity to explore social interactions, as
well as provide places for tranquility.
Safety
Children with autism occasionally have an
altered sense of spatial orientation, depth perception, and general
proprioception, or the ability to sense stimuli arising within the body
regarding position, motion, and equilibrium. The miscommunication within the
sense makes individuals with autism prone to self-injury. They are also prone
to displaying aggressive behaviors and tantrums making them dangerous to
themselves and others. The high frequency of those with autism demonstrating
self-injury due to being unfamiliar with their environment mean precautions
need to be taken to ensure that the children are being constantly looked after. Autistic individuals also have stronger
reactions to dirt, germs, and toxins, so the materials selected within an
environment need to take into consideration the chemicals used to create them.
Durability
Emotional disturbance issues, such as intermittent
explosive disorder or bipolar, frequently cohabitate with ASD. Due to this,
there exists a need to use durable materials that not only resist the wear and
tear of children, but are safe enough that they do not to cause injury to the
students. The materials will also have to be easy to clean as children with ASD
often have trouble with bathroom procedures and will sometimes soil themselves
or vomit in class.
Conclusion
Designing for autism seems to be an impossible
task. How do you design for someone whose senses you cannot understand? How do
you design for a student whose sensory perception can change throughout the
day? How do you design for two students in the same room who perceive space
differently from each other? These are all questions that need to be answered.
The principles outlined above are only a first
step and merely an outline for a building. In order to make an effective
learning environment the school as a whole, from the classroom to the
curriculum, needs to adapt to the growing variable needs of the autistic
population. Designers need to work directly with parents, teachers, and
administrators to design schools that work with all parties. Schools designed
specifically for students with autism have a beneficial impact not only on the
students, but also on those who care for them. It is the role of the designer
to balance both environmental and human factors to create spaces where students
can have equal opportunities to learn, regardless of disabilities.
David Leestma, AIA is a practicing architect at
Torti Gallas + Partners in Silver Spring, Maryland. He received his Master of
Architecture from the University of Maryland in 2015. His research examines the
impact that architecture can have on learning environments, with a specific
focus on the sensory perception issues of autistic individuals. David has
presented his work in multiple venues including the University of Maryland
Disability Summit and the AIA | DC 3rd Annual Thesis Showcase.
