The environment can affect people differently, whether it’s from its smell, sound, touch, or temperature, it can either help or harm them, people with autism are no exception. People with this spectrum experience life differently than others and some are hyper/hypersensitive to sensory input around them due to their difficulties in reception/processing sensory stimuli such as sight, smell, sound, vestibular (balance), touch, proprioceptive (space) & taste.
They also have impaired cerebral mechanisms that confer coherence to the stimuli they received, which makes them lack the ability to integrate outside information & apprehend its meaning, hence their inability to understand irony, metaphor & jokes. People within this spectrum also tend to focus on details but unable to integrate different parts into a whole. People with autism have different perceptions about space in which they’re forced to make an effort to get a grasp & understanding of their surrounding environment, and they also have difficulties in processing information from their senses that hamper their understanding of their environment. This causes frustration & strange behaviors such as inappropriate gestures, weird movements & verbal utterances.
An ASD friendly environment should be able to reduce negative effects & symptoms associated with autism and enhance the positivity of sensory differences. It should be flexible/adaptable, nonthreatening, non-distracting, predictable, controllable, sensory-motor attuned, safe & noninstitutional too. For them, fluorescent lights are distracting & debilitating, clutter/mess in a room overstimulate them, darkness is essential to treat with their sleep problems, intense sounds can be deafening for them, and patterned fabrics are distressing & overwhelming for some of them.
In addition, clear structure & routine should be there to keep things predictable & consistent that helps them manage their anxiety, avoid things than worry, scare & ruin his/her mood, visual resources such as planners, calendars & timetables should be used when needed that makes them easier to do tasks, and consider his/her preference of colors, since colors impact his/her mood.
In terms of colors, green calms them down, light blue aid them with concentration, and yellow & red are stimulating. Some tactile experiences can be distressing unless he/she has control over it, some smells can cause nausea for some autistic people, and some of the rock, balance & swing to gain their sense of self. For them, too much space causes anxiety & disorientation, and they can’t handle clutter & crowds. People with this disorder are known to have extremely high attention to detail as I mentioned earlier, so too much visual information can overwhelm them.
Things that needed to be considered for ASD friendly environment include natural & artificial lighting, wall color, whether the curtains, carpets & furnishings are patterned since it can distract, overwhelm & can cause visual distortion, things in the room that require visual awareness/recognition, external sounds such as traffic sounds and construction sound, internal sounds such as music, clock ticking & light buzzing, soundproofing methods, ways to reduce sounds for each individual such as using earplugs, areas for different textures to be felt/stroked, items to provide different feelings in his/her skin such as sand & water, items to provide pressure when needed such as massagers & blankets since some autistic people need them to feel calm & safe & stimulate them, smells that can distress/cause nausea, opportunities for swinging, balancing on beams/boards, bounce/climb, sitting with his/her backs against the wall, & sitting somewhere he/she can see the whole room, quick exit routes since they can be overwhelmed by corridors, natural space from 1 space to another, & space for withdrawal to calm him/herself down.
Spaces in the rooms should be divided into smaller areas in order to avoid overstimulation & excessive number of social interactions, and space for climbing, rolling, sliding, etc. should be included for less chance for him/her to be overaroused & facilitate social interaction. The furniture & fixtures in the room should be robust & firmly attached to prevent the need of interrupting his/her games/activities with instructions/safety warnings. The visual & physical boundaries should be clear in order to create definite context for each activity in the areas, and visual instructions (written words, images, pictures, etc) in spaces where the activities are carried out should be included. Other inclusions that should be in an ASD friendly environment include environment in which he/she can learn daily life & vocational skills that allows him/her to be independent & interact with his/her peers, maximum accessibility to whatever they need, as well as clear arrangement of spaces, direct routes between spaces, neat zoning, simple forms & uncluttered rooms that helps him/her to perceive & apprehend their environment.
Visual, auditory, tactile, and other distractions related to his/her senses should be as minimal as possible, and multisensory stimuli within the environment should be included to provide him/her opportunities to roll, jump & spin, experience vibrations, music & more. The visual background should be made as neutral as possible by decluttering the surrounding environment removing unnecessary elements, minimal detailing, and reducing the non-vivid chromatic ranges.
Also, the colors shouldn’t be excessively contrasting, saturated & bright, textures & patterns shouldn’t be highly contrasting, lighting should achieve diffuse & natural illumination & avoid the use of fluorescent tubes, and acoustics should include different materials & constructive elements to reduce noise & vibration. For the materials, it should have modular furniture, multifunctional spaces & easy to clean finishes. Lastly, sequence circulation, storage for non-essential items, sub-dividing rooms, & reconfigurable space helps people with autism to focus better & simpler for them to process.
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