LEARN, PLAY, THRIVE

LEARN, PLAY, THRIVE

DESIGN GUIDELINES AND “BUILDING BLOCKS” OF THERAPEUTIC GARDENS FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

WENXI HUANG SENIOR THESIS PROJECT | 2020

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I am Odd I am odd, I am new, I wonder if you are too I hear voices in the air I see you don’t, and that’s not fair I want to not feel blue I am odd, I am new I pretend that you are too I feel like a boy in outer space I touch the stars and feel out of place I worry what others might think I cry when people laugh, it makes me shrink I am odd, I am new I understand now that so are you I say I, “feel like a castaway” I dream of a day that that’s okay I try to fit in I hope that someday I do I am odd, I am new.

- Benjamin Giroux 3

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Yiwei Huang for the continuous support of my undergraduate study and related research, for her patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of the research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my senior year.

My sincere thanks also go to Prof. Elizabeth Boults, Prof. Patsy Owens, Dr. Brianna Health, Ms. Gao, Mrs. Keeler, and Principle Lovina, who provided me with valuable insights and interview opportunities. Without their precious support, it would not be possible to conduct this research.

I would also like to thank Chaky Fong for his unceasing encouragement and insightful comments throughout this year. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Nonetheless, I thank my classmates Krongkan, Tristan, Tianyue, Chris, Minkyu, and my dear friend Cookie, for the stimulating discussions, for the sleepless nights we were working and calling together before deadlines, and for all the support during the pandemic.

Last but not the least, I am forever grateful to my parents and families for their constant encouragement, endless patience, and spiritual support throughout my life. Humbly and sincerely, my thanks go to you all.

TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: TABLE OF CONTENT: ABSTRACT 01 INTRODUCTION 02 RESEARCH QUESTION 03 RESEARCH METHODS 04 THE NATURE OF AUTISM 05 HEALING NATURE 06 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 07 LITERATURE REVIEW 08 EXISTING GUIDELINES 09 CASE STUDY 10 INTERVIEW 11 CROSS EXAMINATION 12 COMPREHENSIVE GUIDELINE 13 BUILDING BLOCKS 14 CONCEPTUAL SITE DESIGN 15 CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX ENDING PAGE

01 02 06 07 08 15 19 25 30 38 45 51 54 66 78 88 90 92

ABSTRACT The aim of my research is to develop a comprehensive guideline and “building blocks” that highlights core design elements for designing therapeutic gardens that could be integrated into school settings. My focus population for the project is young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Psychologists has found that the effectiveness of treatments and therapies rely heavily on the starting age of children, an earlier intervention will benefit them more and hence improve their overall conditions in the long run. However, most autism centers do therapy indoors, due to it being safer and having things much more in control, this results in a missed opportunity of exploring the potential of engaging outdoor environments. The “building blocks” developed here is the first step in exploring the possibility of an adapted therapeutic garden in schools settings, which uses a combination of plants, water, and play structures to help children with ASD flourish academically, socially and mentally, and at the same time reduce the stress of working staffs. The “building blocks” are generated with an analysis of literature reviews, case studies of built works, interviews of staffs and scholars working closely with autism children.

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01 INTRODUCTION Many researches have been conducted on therapeutic gardens and their effects on health outcomes. Most of these research are focused on general public, acute care, general hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, mental health facilities, and living facilities such as Alzheimer treatment centers or elderly’s group homes. People with Autism Spectrum Disorder on the other hand receives much lesser focus on their needs for therapeutic landscapes.

Since middle school, I have volunteered at special education schools for children with Autism. From my interviews and personal experience with schools for children with Autism, I learned that it’s very challenging to work with autistic children, and the resources for teachers, caregivers, and parents are limited. Many of the autism centers are located within business parks for budget and accessibility. Within these autism centers, many of the classrooms in the autism centers are no bigger than an office. When the children start to showcase violent outbursts or sensory overloads, the teachers can only bring them out into the corridor or their so-called outdoor environments.

However, most of these outdoor environments are not suitable for its users – they do not have enough planting, safety controls for the teachers, and even appropriate equipment for these children. This problem exists as well in most places, even with much more outdoor space, it is not fully developed or utilized to become a suitable healing and resting environment for children with autism. Therefore, the idea of creating a comprehensive list of design guideline and its associating “building blocks” for an outdoor therapeutic garden came to my mind.

Photo of children playing on swings.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

THE PROBLEM

Limited outdoor space Dominant hardscape

Lack of functional small spaces

surrounding with driveways or parking lots

Lack of sensory appeal

Large parking lots

Limited texture

Formal Garden setting

Lack of space for family and children

Lack of visual cues or direction signage

Limited groups of user

EXISTING SITUATION OF AUTISM CENTERS AND SCHOOLS 3

Often located within office parks

outdoor space with dull color palette

Limited plants

Lack of space for family and staffs

Lack of play structure for children

RESEARCH STATEMENT This research project focuses on establishing effective guidelines and its corresponding “building blocks” for landscape architects to design therapeutic gardens essential for the autism and special education communities. The study investigates and identifies crucial design elements for a therapeutic garden through case studies of pre-existing sites, interviews with their staff and educators. Furthermore, literary reviews of academic articles highlighting the effectiveness of therapeutic gardens, supporting psychological theories and example of key elements had also been thoroughly reviewed.

Findings suggest that there are indeed clear benefits of therapeutic landscapes on the treatment and healing of children troubled by autism and other mental health issues.

In addition, there are specific and clear elements that are essential and shared between these gardens, as a result guidelines and “building blocks”s can be easily compiled and improve the efficiency of therapeutic garden designs.

Establishing a clear guideline and “building blocks“ will benefit every autistic child and the people around them. With such resources, therapeutic gardens will likely become more abundant in the future, helping many other communities affected by mental health issues.

PROBLEM MATRIX

Solutions from Design

by Research

Existing Problems Underutilized outdoor space with a lack of planning

Apply design guidelines to the planning and design of the area

Lack of appropriate outdoor programs for therapies and activities

Use design guidelines for planning and “building blocks” for programs

Lack of planting at the outdoor area

Select from the “sensory planting” of the “building blocks”

Limited outdoor space avaliable

Select small scale design from the “building blocks”

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02 RESEARCH QUESTION

How can therapeutic gardens function as an additional healing strategy for children with Autism Disorder?

What are the essential design elements that play key factors in these therapeutic gardens?

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03 RESEARCH METHODS Theoretical Framework

Define and exam existing theories on the therapeutic landscape, healing gardens, children’s play, and development theories to understand base principles of the design subject.

Research Result

Supporting the effectiveness of therapeutic garden on children with Autism disorder

Literature Review

Relative literatures on the nature of therapeutic landscape and Autism Disorder, as well as present studies related to the effect of outdoor play for children with ASD.

RESEARCH METHOD The method used in this research design is a combination of self-studies and participatory process where relevant stakeholders and professionals are involved in the process.

Case Study

3 Case studies are closely related with therapeutic gardens for children with ASD were conducted to build an understanding of the suitable design process and how has it been done in other contexts.

Research Result

Existing Guidelines

Current research on autism-focused design provides multiple sets of principles that are applicable. By comparison, one can see similarities within these guidelines that can be then generated into a border guideline.

Interviews

Interviews with researchers at UC Davis MIND Institute, professor at UC Davis landscape architecture department, and special education teachers at different schools at Davis and Sacramento provide valuable insights into the subject.

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Generate applicable design strategies and shared guidelines through cross-examination

04 THE NATURE OF AUTISM

Photo of children with ASD illustration.

Image courtesy of Lilli CarrĂŠ.

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WHAT IS AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER?

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of an individual’s brain. It is most often responsible for impacting the development of a person’s verbal and non-verbal communication skills. ASD is also usually regarded as a spectrum disorder because of the varying degrees of effects and severity. Different people will likely express different symptoms, ranging from repetitive behaviors, low interests or attention spans, anxiety, limitation to social interactions, poor motor skills, language and communication problems and sensory impairments.

HISTORY AND PRESENT OF AUTISM

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The number of individuals diagnosed with ASD is growing rapidly.

In 2002, 1 in 150 children was diagnosed with ASD, with a gradual increase throughout the years to a rate of 1 in 88 for the year 2008.

The most recent estimate by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that it is likely to be 1 in 68 with an increasing trend (CDC, 2015). The increase in number can be attributed to many different causes, such as an improvement in the methods of diagnosis or the overall increase in the probability of children developing autism, regardless the main issue should be discovering and then providing the appropriate treatments to help alleviate and improve their signs and symptoms, allowing them to function normally and adapt better to the society.

Common Signs of Autism, Adaped from National Autism Association 10

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COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTISM The range and severity of symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder can vary widely. An individual with autism does not always show every symptom. However, there are some characteristics and observed indications.

“IF YOU’VE MET ONE PERSON WITH AUTISM, YOU’VE MET ONE PERSON WITH AUTISM.” - DR. STEPHEN SHORE 1. Behavioral Excesses Although the characteristics of autism differs from each individual to another, they can often be classified as either behavioral excesses or behavioral deficits.

Behavioral excesses are characteristics that comes in the way of learning, they are often what most people would consider “bad behaviors” as children only display such actions when misbehaving or in defiance. For children with autism, these behavioral excesses might not be voluntary and more due to the possibility of being exposed to too much sensations and a sensory overload happened. When met with an unknown and uncontrolled scenario, children with ASD might cope or deal with it through behavioral excesses such as aggressive behavior, self-abuse or temper tantrums (Scheuermann & Webber, 2002).

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Photo of a child throwing a tantrums.

Image courtesy of Patrick A. Coleman.

2. Behavioral Deficits - Social Deficits Behavioral deficits on the other hand ties in closely with their ability to handle and process social situations. Children with autism often exhibit social deficits, impacting their social skills and making it difficult to interact and relate to others.

These deficits usually relate to sensory processing, and since children with autism might not have the most developed sensory processors, they might fail to perform certain actions that most people might deem as proper social etiquettes or actions. With a sensory processing deficit, these children will often avoid eye contact, disregard or avoid physical contact. When met with family members or familiar faces, they might also not show any special reactions. A general lack of interests in most things seem to also be a common behavioral deficit for most autistic individuals.

Aside from the senses mentioned above, children with ASD also might have difficulty in language, either understanding or producing it.

Being non-verbal and unwilling to communicate is a serious problem that needs to be addressed when trying to treat and interact with autistic children.

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Photo of children playing bricks.

Image courtesy of Indy’s Child Magazine.

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TREATMENTS + THERAPIES Interactions with autistic children will always be problematic in the beginning due to behavioral excesses, behavioral deficits and cognitive deficits, but with appropriate and structured treatment and therapies, it can without a doubt be improved upon and provide a more enjoyable social life and experience overall.

01 Applied behavior analysis One of the most common and proven to be most effective treatment is the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). This treatment aims to replace bad and inappropriate behaviors with desired behaviors and further reinforcing them. The premise of this method is to try and understand why certain behaviors happen and sought to alter the way autistic children perceive it, allowing them to be aware of their actions and that there might be more efficient and beneficial actions to achieve a similar goal (APA).

Photo of children at ABA therapy with teacher.

Image courtesy of UW College of Education.

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02 Sensory integration Sensory integration focuses on easing children with autism into a higher or lower threshold of tolerating sensory input from their environment. Through this method, children might become more tolerable to loud noises, intense colors, or even physical contact. By increasing and lowering the tolerance threshold, it can help autistic children to become more adaptable towards new and sensory-rich environments (APA).

Photo of a child engaging in sensory activity.

Image courtesy of Carolina Therapy Connection.

03 Play therapy When dealing with children, the inclusion of play always seem to be an effective way to develop an interaction. When treating children with autism, play therapies are also important as it allows them to develop social skills, aiding them in becoming more vocal or communicative with others. Play therapy comes in usually three forms, either the “AdultDirected Approach”, the “Child-Centered Approach” or the Integrated Play Groups Model”. The “Adult-Directed Approach” is guided by an adult and allows for an increase in frequency and duration of social interactions. The “Child-Centered Approach” on the other hand allows the child to be the guide and through encouragements by the adult, an attention will be produced and more complex communication or emotion exchange can happen. Lastly, the “Integrated Play Groups Model” allow children to develop socially by different scenarios of group play, the adult intervention is low and children in a group influence and teach each other of acceptable and likable behaviors (APA).

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Photo of a child engaging in play therapy.

Image courtesy of Weekend Images Inc.

05 HEALING NATURE

Photo of rolliing hills.

Image courtesy of Andrew Millham.

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WHAT IS THERAPEUTIC LANDSCAPE?

For centuries, people have believed that nature has healing powers, and “healing spaces were nearly always found in nature…a healing spring, a sacred grove, a special rock or cave” (Marcus & Barnes, 1999). People have visited aesthetically pleasing places such as shrines, natural springs, spas, and other natural landscapes in hopes of inheriting healing power of such places that would provide a cure for their discomforts.

The concept of a ‘therapeutic landscape’ was developed by Wilbert M. Gesler in 1992 to examine the healing dimensions of specific sites. The concept draws our attention to the connection between place and wellbeing, as Gesler writes, how the ‘healing process works itself out in places (or situations, locales, settings and milieus)’ (Gesler, 1992). Therapeutic landscapes are thus defined as specific spaces of healing, particularly where the natural environment intersects with the social environment (Gesler, 2003).

With later research and development, the settings of therapeutic landscape are closely link to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. They are typically found outside of the public realm and are designed for a specific user group. According to Roger S. Ulrich, “a therapeutic garden refers to a variety of garden features that have in common a consistent tendency to foster restoration from stress and have other positive influences on patients, visitors, and staff or caregivers” (Marcus and Barnes, 1999, p.30).

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WHAT ARE SOME DESIGN ELEMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITIES OF THESE THERAPEUTIC GARDENS? Among the many factors that contribute towards building a fully functional and effective therapeutic garden, there are certain elements that are more applicable towards designing one with autistic children as its core user group. These following elements give extra consideration to the needs and desires of children with ASD and ensure that their experience in the garden would be a positive one.

A. Opportunities To Make Choices, Seek Privacy and Experience A Sense of Control Stress stemming from lack of control has been shown to have negative effects on immune functioning and other physiological measures among patients (Ulrich, 1999). A garden is able to help reduce the stress of individuals by providing a sense of control. The users must be able to use it in the ways they prefer. For example, accessing a private area, or an area to kick back and watch people traversing through different routes, and even given the choice of different kinds of seating. Involving patients or residents in designing or maintaining the garden may also enhance a sense of control (Francis, M., 1989; Hester, R.T., 1984).

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B. Opportunities for Physical Movement and Exercise Exercise is associated with a variety of physical and psychological (i.e. stress-reduction) benefits, including improved levels of cardio-vascular health, and reduced levels of depression among adults and children.

(Brannon and Feist,1997; Koniak-Griffin, 1994). A garden with looped pathway systems offers a variety of routes; settings where well children can run and let off steam; walking routes for patients recovering from heart surgery labeled for distance and time; and walking or jogging routes for staff on their lunch hours (Barnes & Marcus, 1995).

Photo of children playing in nature.

Image courtesy of JUMP in Magazine.

C. Engagement with Nature For a healthcare garden to provide maximum therapeutic benefits, it needs to have a variety of plant materials. This can include species that flower at different seasons; vegetation that attract non-threatening wildlife such as squirrels and birds; and elements that feature the sight and sound of moving water. The merits of nature as a positive distraction are supported by research as indicating that viewing nature scenes also tended to reduce stress (Ulrich et al., 1981).

Photo of a healing garden.

Image courtesy of Sakata Seed America.

D. Accessibility One factor of accessibility of a therapeutic garden lies in ensuring that nursing stations have good visual access to gardens used by children and patients when constant accompaniment is not possible. Another important factor of accessibility of a therapeutic garden regards to the width and materials of pathways, making sure that the garden is usable by people with infirmities and those using wheelchairs (Barnes & Marcus, 1995).

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Photo of elders in wheelchair.

Image courtesy of Craig Hospital.

Photo of biophilia design.

Image courtesy of D for Design Magazine.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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THEORIES OF LANDSCAPE

Biophilia Hypothesis

Attention Restoration Theory

Edward O. Wilson, 1984

Kaplans, 1989

Human’s innate attraction to nature and natural processes.

Theory influenced how landscape and design professionals and others view humanity’s relationship with nature.

Biophilia design is an applied solution to appease this desire for nature by integrating natural elements and processes into the built environment.

O.Wilson, Biophilia, 1984

Stress Reduction Theory

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE THEORY

Four states of attention along the way to restoration: Clearer head; Mental fatigue recovery; Soft fascination, or interest; Reflection and restoration R. Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989

Salutogenic Environment

Roger S. Ulrich, 1981 Natural environments can engage involuntary attention, and thus allow recovery of a fatigued directed attention system.

Recovery results from boosting positive, and reducing negative emotions.

Antonovsky, 1979 An environment that is increasingly used by people interested in public health to describe the kinds of places that support and promote good health.

Antonovsky, 1979; Thompson. 2015

Ulrich, 1981, 1985

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To begin the process of designing a therapeutic landscape for autistic children, it is important to first investigate the current, ever-broadening collection of theories and literatures on therapeutic landscape and therapeutic gardens.

Photo of moss panel.

Image courtesy of THE FAT PLANT SOCIETY.

01 Biophilia Primarily, the biophilia hypothesis (BET) suggests that humans possess an “innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life”. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984).

02 Attention Restoration Theory Secondly, Steve and Rachel Kaplan’s work on “restorative environments” and Attention Restoration Theory influenced how landscape and design professionals and others view humanity’s relationship with nature. Stephen and Rachel Kaplan (1989) proposed that there are four cognitive states, or states of attention, along the way to restoration: Clearer head, or concentration; Mental fatigue recovery; Soft fascination, or interest; Reflection and restoration (Kaplans, 1989).

03 Stress reduction theory Addition to Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory, Roger S. Ulrich suggests the stress reduction theory (SRT) to explain emotional and physiological reactions to natural spaces.

His researches suggest that outdoor visual environments can influence individuals’ psychological well‐being, and therefore should be given explicit attention in planning and design decisions (Ulrich, 1981).

04 Salutogenic Environment A salutogenic environment is one that deals with the relationships between stress, wellness, and human health. Salutogenesis focuses on the origins and causes of health, a design applying this model or theory will ensure a positive design that will heavily benefit human’s physical and mental health (Thompson. 2015).

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THEORIES OF PLAY

Surplus Energy Theory

Piaget’s Theory

Curtis, H.S., 1916

Piaget, 1951

Child builds up an excess of energy, and that active play is necessary to get rid of the surplus.

Children do not develop new cognitive structures in play, but merely try to fit new experiences into what they already know

Curtis, H.S., Education through play, 1916

Relaxation Theory

Piaget, J., Piaget rediscovered, 1964

CHILDREN’S PLAY THEORY

Classification of Play Mildred Parten, 1932

Moritz Lazarus, 1883

Parten’s classification of play is a system for classifying participation in play.

Play is a mode of relaxation or a de-stressor which restores all the energy that has been lost in the day to day work related activities.

1. Unoccupied Play 2. Onlooker Behavior 3. Solitary Independent Play 4. Parallel Play 5. Associate Play 6. Cooperative Play

Lazarus,1883; Patrick,1916

Parten, M.B. Social participation among pre-school children. 1932.

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The activity of play has always been associated with children, regardless of their background, each and every one of them yearns for it.

Although many parents might wonder if allowing their child to play is truly necessary, many psychologists’ theories on play argues that it is and a critical part of the growth and development of children.

Photo of children play outdoor.

Image courtesy of Getty Images.

01 Surplus Energy Theory The “Surplus Energy Theory” proposed by Herbert Spencer states that one of the main functionality of play is to allow children to get rid of a surplus of energy that they have built up (1916). Especially for children with autism, where over activeness and impulsiveness seem to be a common issue, allowing them to engage in periods of play will help to vent this excess energy. This will hopefully return them to a more typical energy level where they are more likely to pay attention to instructions and be aware of instructors (Spencer, 1916).

02 Relaxation Theory In a similar sense, the “Relaxation Theory” proposed by Moritz Lazarus also mentions the effect of play on a child’s energy level. The “Relaxation Theory” treats play as more of an activity where children can de-stress after a day of stressful work related activities such as school work (Lazarus, 1883). Through play, children can hopefully relax and regain the lost energy from a day of hard work.

Both of these theories highlight the importance of play, and also shows that when given the opportunity of play in different times of a child’s day it will achieve different but equally crucial effects.

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Photo of children play outdoor.

Image courtesy of SeventyFour.

03 Piaget’s theory When addressing play, it is also easy to associate it to a social activity when children can interact with each other and learning to behave in social scenarios.

Piaget’s theory speaks of play as a social event where children try to fit new experiences into what they know (1951). This sharing of experience is without a doubt a valuable opportunity for autistic children as they tend to have trouble with social interactions in most cases.

Through the activity of play, they can adapt and learn social etiquettes through a more accepting way, rather than being taught and lectured in classes or by teachers.

With play usually being social, there are also instances where play does not require the presence of others. For children with autism, this is most important because playing by themselves could be more optimal in certain situations. The inclusion of others might cause a sensory overload for an autistic child, they might throw tantrums and become stressed more easily where a social play situation is not favorable to themselves. The classification of play proposed by Mildred Parten, classifies play into six different styles, unoccupied play, onlooker behavior, solitary independent play, parallel play, associate play, and cooperative play (1932). All of these play styles contribute different effects for children, in the scenario for an autistic children deciding what kind of play they want, these options remain fluid and would possibly change from time to time.

When designing a therapeutic garden for children with autism, these theories of play needs to be carefully addressed, the design needs to include elements where play is not only encouraged but a child can experience a variety of play in the environment, providing them with the intended benefits.

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07 LITERATURE REVIEW

Painting: Children in the Garden.

Miłosz Kotarbiński, 1892.

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More literature on therapeutic landscapes expands the scale and influence of this matter, for example, Restorative Gardens: The Healing Landscape by Nancy Gerlach Spriggs, Richard Enoch Kaufman, and Sam Bass Warner, Jr., Therapeutic Landscapes, An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces by Clare Marcus and Naomi A Sachs offers detailed insights in the history and design of therapeutic gardens in different scenarios.

In the next part of this research paper, I will provide summaries of relative literatures on the nature of therapeutic landscape and Autism, as well as present studies related to the research paper.

Literature Review #1: Marcus, C. C. (2016). The Future of Healing Gardens. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 9(2), 172–174.

In the article “The Future of Healing Gardens” by Clare Cooper Marcus, the current state of therapeutic gardens is being addressed. Marcus mentions that therapeutic gardens have come of age and evidence regarding their health benefits to people is growing day by day, furthermore they have also become commonly featured in architecture magazines, in marketing literature and popular press. These are all good news in her opinion, but the bad news is despite the overwhelming amount of researches, studies and examples, there are still many gardens labeled as “healing gardens” that do not serve its purpose.

Marcus talks about the fact that the problem could be linked to designers unwilling to read research papers on the subject and also unwilling to work with researchers. Most importantly, there is also no clear guidelines and checklist on building or designing a therapeutic garden.

Marcus hopes to eventually develop and come up with one along with her partner, Naomi Sachs, but at the same time question if these guidelines would truly be followed, the incentives behind it and if it will discourage creativity.

In conclusion, Marcus believes that a guideline will benefit the world of health environment research and landscape architecture design, and most importantly researchers and designers should work together to blend their essential skills.

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Literature Review #2: Souter-Brown, G. (2015). Landscape and urban design for health and well-being: using healing, sensory and therapeutic gardens. London: Routledge.

Chapter 5: Healing gardens for children Souter-Brown talks about the effects of healing gardens and outdoor play’s beneficial effects on children, stating that “Natural play opportunities provide children and their families with safe places of reflection, where they can de-stress.” The chapter on how children benefit from the healing gardens also go further into details on what exactly helps them and make them develop healthily.

Therapeutic gardens and natural play environments are overall very important for childhood development, they are less common nowadays because of the wrong believe that outdoor play is dangerous and healthy mental development could also be achieved at home with electronic help or in a sterile play environment without nature. This chapter also lists specific structures and designs that will allow children to achieve maximum health benefits when incorporated.

Souter-Brown also further explores different case studies in this chapter in order to showcase the realistic and true benefits of therapeutic gardens for children, as well as how they are achieved.

In addition, the chapter also mentions the types of plants and nature that could be incorporated, such as the specific species, their benefit, the recommended size and their season of interest.

Literature Review #3: Byström, K., Grahn, P., & Hägerhäll, C. (2019). Vitality from Experiences in Nature and Contact with Animals-A Way to Develop Joint Attention and Social Engagement in Children with Autism?. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(23), 4673.

In “Vitality from Experiences in Nature and Contact with Animals—A Way to Develop Joint Attention and Social Engagement in Children with Autism?”, Byström, Grahn and Hägerhäll tries to delve into the effects of animals and a natural setting on the healthy development of autistic children. It is known that animals are becoming more commonly included in treatment for children with autism, and there are research showing the positive effects and correlations.

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The autistic children are shown to have increased social initiatives, decreased typical autistic behaviors, and decreased stress. This paper seeks to solidify these findings and investigate the ways in which animal and nature can improve conditions for psychological development through support from therapists.

The treatment model used and studied is the KOMSI model, a one and a half year, group based, nature- and animal- based interaction and communication treatment. The specific treatment location is located on a small farm with animals and with the surrounding natural environments.

Children undergo numerous activities with and without animals as well as sessions with therapists.

Through the vitality forms provided by both nature and contact with animals, it can be concluded that the treatments do indeed help the autistic children in three key categories. First of all, nature and animals do appear to help the children reduce stress and provide calmness through the soft and repetitive recurrent movements from nature and animal behavior. Secondly, it piques their curiosity and interests, hence vitalizing their thinking. Lastly, the nature and animals have attracted the children to pay attention spontaneously, improving the attention and overall becoming more mindful and alert to social situations and interactions. It is likely that animals and nature-based treatment will become a good option to treating and alleviating people suffering from autism or other mental and stress issues.

Literature Review #4: Christensen, K., & Romero, L. P. R. (2016). Creating Outdoor Play Environments to Support Social Interactions of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder; A Scoping Study. Landscape Research Record, 5.

This paper by Keith Christensen and Laura Patricia Reyes Romero seeks to find out the best methods to create outdoor play environments for children with autism spectrum disorder. The authors understand that there is a specific difficulty to creating a play environment for children with ASD, and as a result intervention that consider how they play instead of the outcome of the play sessions were focused on instead. Overall, a well-established structure either on the entire playing area or teaching strategies is necessary for a safe, stimulating and effective play 28

environment for children with ASD. The authors used an Internet search-based method in order to explore the best practice outdoor play environment design strategies, that are not only safe but also ensure the support of social skills development for children with ASD. The method concluded that there are in fact specific design strategies that are efficient and important when creating such play environments.

The paper also analyzed four primary play behaviors of children with ASD, these categories are: low motor skills and coordination, sensory integration, generative play, and joint attention.

In addition, the specific design strategies were also listed, showcasing the appropriate design strategies that correspond with the above-mentioned play behaviors.

Overall, this research paper is a very good resource in deciding factors and design strategies that should be adopted in designing and creating a safe and enriching play environment for children with ASD. The “Design Considerations” section explains each strategy in detail, highlighting the specific issues that certain design aspects help with and when to use them or not.

SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW All four of the literature reviews highlight further details on the health benefits or the overall positive aspects of therapeutic gardens. Souther-Brown explains that therapeutic garden is effective mainly due to it providing opportunities for children to safely reflect and de-stress (Souther-Brown, 2015). The paper by Byrström, Grahn and Hägerhäll further expands on how nature can help with de-stress. Although this paper includes animals as a part of the treatment and healing, nature also shares a similar role, they both reduce stress by providing calmness through soft and repetitive recurrent movements, in addition, they also help improving autistic children’s social skills through attraction of attention (Hägerhäll et al., 2019). The final paper mentions about the activity of play in correlation with the outdoor environment. Christensen and Romero states that a wellestablished structure, or a therapeutic garden, should possess the elements of being safe, stimulating, enriching and accommodating for children with ASD (Christensen & Romero, 2016).

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08 EXISTING GUIDELINES

Photo of Sweet water Spectrum Community.

Image courtesy of Tim Griffith.

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OVERVIEW OF EXISITING GUIDELINES ON AUTISM DESIGN There is a growing consensus that an appropriate classroom and outdoor environment will aid the performance of the students with ASD. There are, however, very few design guidelines available when considering ASD and the school environment.

Currently, research on autism oriented design focuses mainly on either residential design or classroom design.

Although both design categories are more related to architecture and interior design, many of the principles can also be applied to outdoor and public space design. The exsiting guideline analysis covers five different studies.

Through cross-referencing, it will be shown that similar principles are often repeated.

EXISTING GUIDELINES A. Clare L. Vogel’s 8 Design Standards and Solutions (2008) Clare L. Vogel introduces 8 design standards for living and learning with autism on her 2008 article “Classroom Design for Living and Learning with Autism”. These eight design standards and solutions gathered from interviews with people most directly affected by autism - parents, teachers, and therapists, as well as college students and adults with autism. While they are primarily intended for educational facilities, these strategies can be applied to bedrooms, family rooms and play spaces (Vogel, 2008).

1. Flexible & Adaptable: In the case of designs for children with autism, flexibility will not mean constant change, but rather being able to transform an environment on a moment’s notice.

2. Non-Threatening: For a physical space to be non-threatening the layout should feel welcoming and foster encounters, communication, and relationships. Settings should provide restful, restorative places and offer a sense of security. “Use elements that are soft and can provide sensory input, such as beanbag chairs, stuffed couches, carpeting, swings, clay, and water” (Vogel, 2008) 3. Non-Distracting: A clean and distinct environment helps the child with autism focus his attention on learning instead of irrelevant stimuli.

4. Predictable: Create evident paths, activity pockets (pods with various tasks), neighborhood like districts, bold and memorable edges and landmarks. Use signs, numbers, clear views to build a sense of predictability.

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Provide users with multiple sensory cues, designer can come closer to insuring all users understand their design.

5. Controllable: Predictability is one step towards controllability (Sherrod & Cohen, 1978). When a child can feel her environment, emotional security rises and the child feels an increased sense of control. – tighter, contained space as a transitional zone between private and public spaces.

VOGEL’S 8 DESIGN STANDARDS AND SOLUTIONS (2008) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Flexible & Adaptable Non-Threatening Non-Distracting Predictable Controllable Sensory Motor Attuned Safe Non-institutional

6. Sensory Motor Attuned: Sensory-motor needs can fluctuate with age, from person to person, and from day to day in the same child, making it important to plan and fine-tune an environment that is most suitable.

7. Safe: Pay attention to both physical hazards, and emotional safety and security for children. Transparency for children and young teens, Soft surfaces; small, enclosed spaces tends to enhance feelings of closeness, intimacy and safety. Individual and small-group workstations should provide a certain amount of privacy.

8. Non-institutional: Furnitures and surroundings at home will allow children to relax and retain more information. Softer lighting, color suited for homes (warmer hues, skin tones and pastels), soft furniture, interesting texture, art and plants, objects from natural world.

B. Andrew Brand’s Four Design Themes (2010) “Living in the Community: Housing Design for Adults with Autism” by Andrew Brand produced four design themes (Brand, 2010): 1. Growth and development: facilitating personal growth through environments that encourage exploration and development of interests and skills. Qualities addressed were: Independence, social interaction, access, affordability, and evolution.

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2. Triggers: minimizing triggers by creating environments adapted to individuals’ sensory need. Qualities addressed were: Sensation, perception, refuge, empowerment ANDREW BRAND’S FOUR DESIGN THEMES (2010) 1.

2.

3.

4.

Growth and development Triggers Robustness Support tools

3. Robustness: creating environments that can safely tolerate unintended use. Qualities addressed were: Safety, durability, ease of maintenance, tolerance 4. Support tools: providing spaces that facilitate person-centered support. Qualities addressed were: Communication, personal support, unobtrusive monitoring

Photo of Brand’s Design Themes.

Image courtesy of Andrew Brand.

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C. Richer and Nicoll’s Two Goals (1971) One of the first publications on autism was that of Richer and Nicoll in 1971. They attempted to achieve two main goals - reduce frustration and flight behaviors for people with ASD through a design playroom space.

Reduce frustration: 1. Subdividing space in smaller areas allowed over-stimulation and an excessive number of social interactions are avoided. A retreat box was also provided in which the child could escape from the stimulus.

RICHER AND NICOLL GOALS (1971) 1. Reduce Frustration a. Subdivide space into small areas b. Provide active spaces (climbing, sliding, rolling) c. Toys for repetitive movements 2. Reduction of Flight Behaviors a. Structures and fixtures firmly anchored b. Areas for two types of social interaction: Close contact and rough play

2. Space for activities such as climbing, rolling, sliding, etc. was provided.

3. Stereotypes were not stopped, toys which could easily be played with in repetitive movements were included in the playroom.

Reduce flight behaviors: 1. Structures and fixtures were robust and firmly anchored, so that there was no need to interrupt the children’s games with safety warnings or instructions from the caretakers.

2. Areas were provided in which the children could demand two types of social interaction: a close tactile contact, and a rough and tumble play.

3. In some areas, physical boundaries forced social interaction.

D. MAGDA MOSTAFA’S ASPECTSS™ (2014) Mostafa, M., “Architecture for Autism: Autism ASPECTSS™ in School Design.” Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol.

8, issue 1, pp.143-158, (2014).

By looking at a series of common sensory environment problems, such as acoustics, texture, lighting Mostafa developed a set of design principles 34

summarized by the acronym ASPECTSS: Acoustics, Spatial sequencing, Escape spaces, Compartmentalization, Transition Zones, Sensory Zoning, and Safety.

1. Acoustics: sound

The acoustical environment be controlled to minimize background noise, echo and reverberation within spaces used by individuals with ASD. 2. Spatial Sequencing

Spaces be organized in a logical order based on the typical schedule of such spaces. The organization of spaces should reflect the schedule of the students and how they move throughout the day.

3. Escape Space

These spaces should provide a neutral sensory environment with minimal stimulation that can be customized by the user to provide the necessary sensory input.

4. Compartmentalization

There needs to be a limit to the sensory input within each space.

Each compartment should include a single and clearly defined function and consequent sensory quality.

MAGDA MOSTAFA’S ASPECTSS™ (2014) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Acoustics: sound Spatial Sequencing Escape Space Compartmentalization Transitions Sensory Zoning Safety/Support

5. Transitions

The presence of transition zones helps the user recalibrate their senses as they move from one level of stimulus to the next.

6. Sensory Zoning

Grouping spaces according to their allowable stimulus level, spaces are organized into zones of high-stimulus and low stimulus.

7. Safety/Support

Safety is more of a concern for children with autism than their neurotypical peers, due to the fact that those with autism may have an altered sense of their environment and could easily injure themselves.

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E. Universal Design (1997) The 7 Principles of Universal Design were developed in 1997 in the North Carolina State University. According to the Center for Universal Design in NCSU, The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.

PRINCIPLE ONE: Equitable Use The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.

PRINCIPLE TWO: Flexibility in Use The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.

PRINCIPLE THREE: Simple and Intuitive Use Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Perceptible Information The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN (1997) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Equitable Use Flexibility in Use Simple and Intuitive Use Perceptible Information Tolerance for Error Low Physical Effort Size and Space for Approach and Use

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Tolerance for Error The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.

PRINCIPLE SIX: Low Physical Effort The design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue.

PRINCIPLE SEVEN: Size and Space for Approach and Use Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user’s body size, posture, or mobility.

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CROSS REFERENCE

These existing guidelines of design for people with Autism are cross-examine with each others to connect similar topics and shared design elements. Five main design themes are generated from the cross-reference.

CLARE L. VOGEL’S 8 DESIGN STANDARDS AND SOLUTIONS (2008) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Flexible & Adaptable Non-Threatening Non-Distracting Predictable Controllable Sensory Motor Attuned Safe Non-institutional

MAGDA MOSTAFA’S ASPECTSS™ (2014) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Acoustics: sound Spatial Sequencing Escape Space Compartmentalization Transitions Sensory Zoning Safety/Support

ANDREW BRAND’S 4 DESIGN THEMES (2010) 1.

2.

3.

4.

Growth and development Triggers Robustness Support tools

RICHER AND NICOLL GOALS (1971) 1. Reduce Frustration

a. Subdivide space into small areas b. Provide active spaces (climbing, sliding, rolling) c. Toys for repetitive movements

2. Reduction of Flight Behaviors

UNIVERSAL DESIGN (1997) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Equitable Use Flexibility in Use Simple and Intuitive Use Perceptible Information Tolerance for Error Low Physical Effort Size and Space for Approach and Use

CROSS REFERENCE

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a. Structures and fixtures firmly anchored b. Areas for two types of social interaction: Close contact and rough play

09 CASE STUDY

Photo of Institute for Child and Adolescent Development.

Image courtesy of Reed Hilderbrand LLC.

The following case studies are selected based on its relationship with therapeutic gardens for children with ASD, and effectiveness of its design. Therapeutic gardens in child-therapy settings, children’s healthcare and children’s play garden are closely related to the topic since they provide valuable information related to the theories of therapeutic landscape, theories of play and psychological therapy process with children with mental disorder. The outcome of case studies will be highlighted in the data analysis section.

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CASE STUDY 1

INSTITUTE FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT LOCATION: INSTITUTE FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT IN WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS DATE COMPLETED: 1998 SIZE AND CONTEXT: 1 ACRE, LOCATED IN ICAD LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT(S): DOUG REED, GARY HILDERBRAND CONTEXT:

Locating in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the Institute for Child and Adolescent Development is a non-profit organization to help children and their families cope with the aftermath of traumatic events.

Treatment is provided in the therapeutic garden at ICAD, which provides children and their therapists the opportunity to interact with landscape in order to resolve the effects of trauma (ICAD, 2002).

USER/USE ANALYSIS:

The garden is used for one-on-one therapy sessions and for group therapy.

The principle of the therapeutic experience is the interaction between child and landscape. According to Dr. Santostefano, the therapeutic garden and the treatment room form a unique and original laboratory in which traumatized children are not only treated but also studied. Valuable research data is being gathered, adding to our knowledge of the role played by “body memories” in the formation of childhood disorders.

(ICAD, 2002; Santostefano, 2013).

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES:

FIGURE 1.

The rill in the garden with various landforms, Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc.

In a 1997 presentation Reed explained that “the design expresses the narrative of a watercourse that weaves its way through the site linking a sequence of spaces that correspond to stages of a child’s recovery”. Water becomes a strong symbol of life and recovery (Reed, 1997).

The garden also serves as an educational tool, demonstrating how the use of landscape designed for therapeutic purposes, enables a child to enter the deepest reaches of his/her inner self, and work towards repairing Body-Based Traumatic Meanings with the aid of the Therapeutic Garden Development and Psychological Treatment (Santostefano, 2013).

MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT:

The garden is managed by ICAD. used year-round, with a diversity of plants to provide interest throughout the year. The landscape in the garden requires regular pruning and lawn care, and is maintained by professional maintenance team.

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FIGURE 2.

Landforms in the garden, Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc.

PROGRAM ELEMENTS: An intensively inward-oriented and evocative landscape that engender emotional well-being and physical healing.

WATER FOUNTAIN + RIPPLING WATER RILL

CHANGE OF ELEVATION + LANDFORMS

Connecting the indoor and the outdoor space, a stone-and-lawn terrace with a granite basin with water bubbling over its side. An 8-inch-wide, steel-sided rill begins at this platform and meanders into the central ravine, which is the main organizing element that encourage children to follow it and explore the landscape.

The garden is formed by a topography of ridges and a ravine, carved and contoured by a running stream that unifies the themes of the landscape and invites child and therapist to embark on their journey to heal the body and the mind (ICAD, 2002). The outer edge of one side of the garden that borders the cave and the pond consists of an elevated slope approximately 20ft at its highest point (Santostefano, 2013).

FIGURE 4. Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc.

FIGURE 3. Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc.

CALMING PLANTING + SENSORY EXPERIENCES

MIXTURE OF MATERIALS + CHALLENGE

The stream runs through the garden, eventually flows into a pond. The pond is created to collect and filter the water runs through the garden, and wet site-tolerant planting is established around it. The rippling rill, pond, elevation changes, and plants allow a wide range of visual, tactile, sensory, kinesthetic and auditory experiences - the design encourages children to emerge themselves in the landscape (Santostefano, 2013).

Natural phenomena are powerfully expressed in a variety of land forms, water bodies, native plants and mixture of materials - a cave-like ravine for the safety of home, a woodland for exploration, a mount for climbing, an island and pond for discovery, steep and shallow slopes for challenges, and a large field for running and playing. Weathered boulders were chosen to create a steppingstone bridge across the water.

However, this creates a challenge for children with disability.

FIGURE 5. Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc.

FIGURE 6. Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc.

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CASE STUDY 2

THE LEICHTAG FAMILY HEALING GARDEN LOCATION: CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL AND HEALTH CENTER, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA DATE COMPLETED: 1997 SIZE AND CONTEXT: 40 X 100 FT. LOCATED ON THE LARGE CAMPUS OF CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL AND HEALTH CENTER LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT(S): DELANEY COCHRAN & CASTILLO CONTEXT:

Located on the western side of the Rose Pavilion at Children’s Hospital and Health Center, the Leichtag Family Healing Garden is thought to be a place for the visitors, family, staffs to get away from the stress of the high-tech environment of the Hospital. The theme of nature and art brings a peaceful feeling to all those who center. The design includes representations of the sky, earth, ocean and plants as well as all kinds of animals, symbolizing the beauty and hope of life (Rady Children’s Hospital, 2020).

USER/USE ANALYSIS:

Based on an extensive Post Occupancy Evaluation conducted at this garden, the garden is fun and child-friendly. One of the top suggested changes to the garden by patients, adult family members and staffs is an increase in vegetation. Most users were found to go into the space, but very few stayed for longer than 5 or 10 minutes and the children who used it suggested the inclusion of more things to do. (Whitehouse et al., 2015).

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES:

The overall design was based on an ocean theme, which is fitting for the Southern California seaside location. It was also the design intent to be oriented around action (and distraction) rather than meditation and contemplation.

While most healing gardens are about the miracle of life, Delaney says the concept behind this garden was to provide a place to imagine life being larger than what’s existing at the moment. The designers have approached the elements of the garden – color, texture, form, and scale- from the point of view of a child (Taylor and Cooper, 2001).

FIGURE 7.

The LandCare Team

MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT:

The garden is managed by Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, and it’s relatively easy to maintain - due to lack of extensive planting. It’s maintained by professional maintenance work - the LandCare team.

FIGURE 8.

Research Design Connections

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PROGRAM ELEMENTS: A fun, whimsical and colorful healing garden that is designed from the child’s perspective and play habits.

INTRIGUING ENTRY DESIGN + DEFINED BOUNDARY

WATER FOUNTAIN + MIXTURE OF TEXTURE AND COLOR

The garden design features ‘Sam’ the large metal dinosaur sculpture at the entrance. The garden is enclosed by four high, curvilinear walls painted with bright colors, which help define the boundary of the site and set up child-scale play space. The entry and the wall help define the garden and provide an extra layer of safety for its users.

A blue-green seahorse fountain with tile mosaic of fish swimming through seaweed is installed in the garden for children’s interaction with water. The beautiful colors, interesting textures and various forms immediately attract the child and provide momentary relief from the worries of the hospital (Taylor and Cooper, 2001).

FIGURE 10. Research Design Connections

FIGURE 11. Taylor, G. and Cooper, G.

WINDMILL + SENSORY STIMULATION

ACCESSIBILITY + VISUAL GUIDANCE

Sensory stimulation is provided throughout the garden - a tall windmill and kinetic metal birds that move; a mauve constellation wall with colorful stained glass disks representing the zodiac; a multi-colored shadow-wall with animal shaped cutouts. However, since the garden mostly consists of build structures, it provides very little in the way of manipulative play (activities such as digging in sand, piling up blocks, picking up leaves and such) and the child loses interest quickly (Whitehouse et al., 2015).

Most parts of the garden is ADA-accessible and have various forms of visual guidance - use of color on the walkway, change of materials, signage and plants. The path also lead to well-defined separate spaces for different users.

Seating is seat-high planter, seating rocks, and brightly colored benches, all design according the scale of children.

FIGURE 12. Taylor, G. and Cooper, G.

FIGURE 12. Taylor, G. and Cooper, G.

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CASE STUDY 3

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF SONOMA COUNTY - MARY’S GARDEN LOCATION: CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF SONOMA COUNTY, SONOMA, CALIFORNIA DATE COMPLETED: 2014 SIZE AND CONTEXT: 1.6 ACRE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT(S): BASE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE CONTEXT:

Located in Santa Rosa, CA, the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County by BASE Landscape, in Santa Rosa, California, is an example of a child-oriented design employed in garden design. Mary’s Garden creates spaces that connect children with nature, in which inspire future learning and a commitment to sustainable practices.

USER/USE ANALYSIS:

In Mary’s Garden: the Life Cycle of a Butterfly, children learn about metamorphosis through a series of interactive structures such as bright eggs to climb and hide in, and caterpillars in steel armature covered by netting and flowering vines to walk on, also kinetic butterflies that flap their wings when kids crank the handle.

Hands-on experience: At “Russian River” and the farm area, children can experience pumping and irrigating water and “fishing”, as well as become farmers for a day at the Farm Stand, where they grow, harvest and sell fruits and veggies.

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES:

FIGURE 13.

Native plantings with vibrant color ; Patricia Algara

The design was inspired by a transect of the environments in Sonoma county – from the inland agricultural valleys to the Pacific Ocean. By studying them, BASE Landscape developed a place where it is possible to mimic this change of landform and spaces in short distance. The project is therefore centered on the main water feature – the “Russian River” – which plays important role in connecting children with their local territory and make them aware of their surrounding landscapes, allowing for a very dynamic and fun learning experience (BASE Landscape, 2018).

SIGNIFICANCE:

As the main outdoor area of the museum, Mary’s Garden is aimed to reunite children with nature by creating “an interactive area with a tantalizing design capable of stimulating children’s imagination” (BASE landscape, 2018). It won the NCC-ASLA Honor Award in 2015.

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FIGURE 14.

Cocoon tunnel at Mary’s Garden; Patricia Algara

PROGRAM ELEMENTS: Kids + Nature + Creativity: a garden that connect children with nature through play and locally rooted landscape.

INTERACTIVE PLAY STRUCTURES + EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

IMAGINATIVE PLAY + HANDS-ON PLANTING ACTIVITIES

Mary’s Garden – Mary for Mariposa, is an area where children can learn about metamorphosis through interactive structures such as bright eggs to hide in, caterpillars in steel armature covered by netting and flowering vines to walk on, and also kinetic butterflies that flap their wings. These play structures are vibrant in color, texture and multi-use, providing education opportunities while playing (BASE Landscape, 2018).

Nelson’s Family Farm Stand, located near Mary’s Garden is an area where children can help grow, harvest, and “sell” fruits and vegetables at the community garden area (BASE Landscape, 2018). Children can exercise their motor skills and social engagement through planting and imaginative play with other children. The Farm Stand also serves as an educational tool for introducing native plants and food produces of the local area.

FIGURE 15. BASE Landscape

FIGURE 16. BASE Landscape

VARIOUS LANDFORM + SENSORY STIMULATION

ADAPTABLE SPACE + INCLUSIVENESS

FIGURE 15. BASE Landscape

FIGURE 18. BASE Landscape

The miniature Russian River on site begins with its headwater in the hill, passes through gravel beds and marshes along the way, and flows through the site to the beach, providing sensory stimulation along the way. Children are encouraged to catch and release life-like simulated salmon fish as they swim down the river. Signage nearby helps educate families on the importance of the Russian River Watershed and the various kinds of salmon that call it home (Lee, 2016).

The main path of the garden is ADA-accessible, with side paths that are more naturalistic. The design of garden takes into consideration of parents by providing seat walls along the side, structures at different scale. In addition, the garden is adaptable to different weather and usage by providing shade structures and separate zoning.

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Illutration of children with Autism at Spectrum News.

Image courtesy of Jun Cen.

10 INTERVIEW My interviews with two professionals from the UC Davis MIND Institute, a UC Davis Landscape Architecture professor and two special education teachers provided me with more insight on the issue of autism itself, several design elements that are crucial to designing an effective therapeutic garden and the state and abundance of these gardens around the country.

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11 CROSS-EXAMINATION Results generated from existing guidelines, case studies and interviews are cross-examine to develop guidelines for therapeutic garden. Similar design strategies and elements are grouped and linked, and the connection drawn are led back to the main 5 theme of the design. The common themes that are shared between existing guidelines, case studies and interviews are used to create a general design guidelines, unique design elements on the other hand becomes the basis of the design “building blocks�.

Illutration of Autism Genetics.

Image courtesy of John Hersey.

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ESCAPE ESCAPE ESCAPE SPACE ESCAPE SPACE ESCAPE FOR SPACE ESCAPE ESCAPE SPACE CHILDREN FOR FOR SPACE SPACE CHILDREN FOR SPACE CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN TO FOR FOR CALM CHILDREN TO CHILDREN CHILDREN TO CALM DOWN CALM TO CALM DOWN TOTO DOWN CALM TOCALM DOWN CALM DOWN DOWN DOWN SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE OF SEQUENCE EXPERIENCE SEQUENCE OFSEQUENCE OF EXPERIENCE OF EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE OFOFEXPERIENCE OFEXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER AND SMALLER SMALLER AND ENCLOSED SMALLER AND SMALLER ENCLOSED AND ENCLOSED AND ENCLOSED AND SPACE AND ENCLOSED SPACE ENCLOSED ENCLOSED SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT INTERGRATED TREATMENT TREATMENT INTERGRATED TREATMENT INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED TOINTERGRATED OUTDOOR INTERGRATED TOTO OUTDOOR OUTDOOR TO OUTDOOR TOTOOUTDOOR TOOUTDOOR OUTDOOR

ESCAPE ESCAPE SPACE FOR ESCAPE SPACE ESCAPE CHILDREN ESCAPE FOR SPACE SPACE CHILDREN SPACE ESCAPE FOR TO ESCAPE FOR CALM CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN SPACE TOSPACE DOWN CHILDREN CALM FOR TO FOR DOWN TOCHILDREN CALM CALM CHILDREN TO CALM DOWN DOWN TO DOWN TO CALM CALM DOWN DOWN USE OF USE WATER OF WATER ELEMENTS USE USEOF USE OF ELEMENTS WATER WATER OF WATER USE ELEMENTS USE ELEMENTS OFOF ELEMENTS WATER THEORY WATER ELEMENTS THEORY ELEMENTS OF LOOSE THEORY OF THEORY PARTS LOOSE THEORY OFOF PARTS LOOSE LOOSE THEORY OFTHEORY LOOSE PARTS PARTS OFPARTS OF LOOSE LOOSE PROSPECT PARTS PARTS PROSPECT REFUGE PROSPECT PROSPECT REFUGE PROSPECT REFUGE REFUGE PROSPECT PROSPECT REFUGE REFUGE REFUGE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE OF EXPERIENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE OFSEQUENCE EXPERIENCE OFOF SEQUENCE EXPERIENCE SEQUENCE EXPERIENCE OF EXPERIENCE OFOF EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE SMALLER SMALLER AND ENCLOSED SMALLER SMALLER ANDSMALLER ENCLOSED AND SPACE AND SMALLER ENCLOSED AND SMALLER ENCLOSED SPACE ENCLOSED AND AND SPACE SPACE ENCLOSED ENCLOSED SPACE TREATMENT SPACE SPACE TREATMENT INTERGRATED TREATMENT TREATMENT INTERGRATED TREATMENT TO INTERGRATED INTERGRATED TREATMENT OUTDOOR TREATMENT INTERGRATED TO OUTDOOR INTERGRATED TOTO INTERGRATED OUTDOOR OUTDOOR TO OUTDOO TOTO O

DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT CHOICES DIFFERENT DIFFERENT CHOICES DIFFERENT CHOICES FOR CHOICES CHILDREN CHOICES FOR CHOICES FOR CHOICES CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN FOR FOR CHILDREN CHILDREN DIFFERENT CHILDREN DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT SENSORY DIFFERENT DIFFERENT SENSORY DIFFERENT SENSORY STILUMATION SENSORY SENSORY STILUMATION SENSORY STILUMATION SENSORY STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION WATER WATER WATER FEATURE WATER FEATURE WATER FEATURE WATER FOR WATER FEATURE TOUCH, FOR FEATURE FEATURE FOR FEATURE TOUCH, FOR TOUCH, FOR TOUCH, FOR FOR TOUCH, TOUCH, TOUCH, PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING FORPLANTING TACTILE FOR PLANTING PLANTING FOR TACTILE FOR TACTILE STIMULATION FOR TACTILE FOR STIMULATION FOR TACTILE STIMULATION TACTILE TACTILE STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL -NON-VERBAL USE NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL - OF USE - USE VISUAL OF - USE OF VISUAL - USE -OF VISUAL CUES USE - USE VISUAL OFCUES OFVISUAL OF CUES VISUAL VISUAL CUES FENCED CUES FENCED CUES CUES FENCED UPFENCED AREA UP FENCED UP FENCED AREA FOR FENCED UP AREA SAFETY AREA FOR UPUP FOR AREA UP SAFETY AREA FOR SAFETY AREA FOR SAFETY FOR FOR SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY SPACE SPACE FOR SPACE SPACE OUTDOOR FOR FOR SPACE SPACE OUTDOOR FOR SPACE OUTDOOR FOR OUTDOOR MODELING FOR FOR OUTDOOR MODELING OUTDOOR OUTDOOR MODELING MODELING MODELING MODELING MODELING TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION FROM TRANSITION TRANSITION FROM TRANSITION INDOOR FROM FROM INDOOR INDOOR FROM FROM TO INDOOR FROM OUTDOOR TO INDOOR INDOOR TO OUTDOOR INDOOR OUTDOOR TO OUTDOOR TOTOOUTDO TOOUTD OU VISUAL, VISUAL, VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, VISUAL, AUDITORY STIMULATION AUDITORY STIMULATION AUDITORY AUDITORY STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION

DIFFERENT DIFFERENT CHOICES DIFFERENT DIFFERENT CHOICES DIFFERENT FOR CHILDREN CHOICES CHOICES FOR DIFFERENT DIFFERENT CHOICES CHILDREN FOR FORCHOICES CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN CHOICES DIFFERENT CHILDREN FOR DIFFERENT FOR SENSORY CHILDREN CHILDREN DIFFERENT DIFFERENT SENSORY DIFFERENT STILUMATION SENSORY SENSORY STILUMATION DIFFERENT DIFFERENT SENSORY STILUMATION STILUMATION SENSORY WATER STILUMATION SENSORY WATER FEATURE STILUMATION STILUMATION FEATURE WATER FOR WATER WATER TOUCH, FEATURE FOR FEATURE FEATURE TOUCH, WATER WATER FOR FORTOUCH, FEATURE FOR TOUCH, FEATURE PLANTING TOUCH, FOR PLANTING FOR FOR TOUCH, TOUCH, TACTILE PLANTING PLANTING FOR PLANTING TACTILE STIMULATION FOR FOR PLANTING TACTILE STIMULATION PLANTING FOR TACTILE TACTILE STIMULATION FOR STIMULATION FOR NON-VERBAL STIMULATION TACTILE TACTILE NON-VERBAL STIMULATION STIMULATION - USE NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL OFNON-VERBAL - USE VISUAL OF-NON-VERBAL VISUAL USE CUES - NON-VERBAL USE-OF USE OFCUES VISUAL VISUAL OF FENCED -VISUAL USE -CUES USE CUES FENCED OF UP OF CUES VISUAL AREA VISUAL FENCED UP FENCED FOR CUES AREA CUES FENCED SAFETY UP FOR UPAREA AREA FENCED UP SAFETY FENCED AREA FOR FORSAFETY UP FOR SAFETY UP SPACE AREA SAFETY AREA FOR SPACE FOR SAFETY OUTDOOR SAFETY FOR SPACE SPACE OUTDOOR SPACE FOR MODELING FOROUTDOOR FOR OUTDOOR SPACE MODELING SPACE OUTDOOR FOR MODELING FOR MODELING OUTDOOR TRANSITION OUTDOOR MODELING TRANSITION MODELING MODELING FROM TRANSITION TRANSITION INDOOR FROM TRANSITION INDOOR FROM TO TRANSITION FROM TRANSITION OUTDOOR FROM INDOOR TO INDOOR OUTD INDO FRF VISUAL,VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, STIMULATION VISUAL, AUDITORY AUDITORY STIMULATION AUDITORY VISUAL, VISUAL, STIMULATION STIMULATION AUDITORY AUDITORY STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION

PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PHYSICAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PHYSICAL AREA ACTIVITY AREA ACTIVITY WITH ACTIVITY AREA ACTIVITY AREA WITH WITH AREA AREA WITH AREA WITH WITH WITH SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY BREAK SENSORY SENSORY BREAK SENSORY SPACE/ROOM BREAK SENSORY BREAK SPACE/ROOM BREAK SPACE/ROOM BREAK SPACE/ROOM BREAK SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR GARDENING OUTDOOR GARDENING OUTDOOR OUTDOOR GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING ANDRELAXING AND SOOTHING RELAXING RELAXING AND SOOTHING AND SOOTHING AND SOOTHING AND LIGHTING AND SOOTHING SOOTHING LIGHTING SOOTHING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING

VISUAL VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE VISUAL SIGNAGE VISUAL SIGNAGE VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SPACE SPACE FOR SPACE SPACE STAFF FOR FOR SPACE SPACE STAFF FOR & SPACE STAFF CHILDREN FOR STAFF &FOR CHILDREN FOR &STAFF CHILDREN STAFF &STAFF CHILDREN & &CHILDREN &CHILDREN CHILDREN ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ADA ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE

PHYSICAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PHYSICAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AREA PHYSICAL WITH ACTIVITY AREA ACTIVITY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PHYSICAL WITH AREA AREA ACTIVITY AREA WITH ACTIVITY WITH SENSORY WITH AREA AREA SENSORY WITH BREAK WITH SENSORY SENSORY SPACE/ROOM BREAK SENSORY SPACE/ROOM BREAK BREAK SENSORY BREAK SENSORY SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM BREAK OUTDOOR BREAK SPACE/ROOM OUTDOOR SPACE/ROOM GARDENING OUTDOOR OUTDOOR GARDENING OUTDOOR GARDENING GARDENING OUTDOOR OUTDOOR GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE SIGNAGE VISUAL VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE VISUAL VISUAL SPACE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE FOR SPACE STAFF FOR SPACE SPACE &STAFF CHILDREN SPACE FOR FOR & STAFF CHILDREN FOR STAFF SPACE SPACE STAFF &&CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN FOR & CHILDREN STAFF STAFF & CHILDREN & ADA CHILDREN ACCESSIBLE ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ADAACCESSIBLE ADA ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE ADA ADA ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE RELAXING RELAXING AND RELAXING SOOTHING RELAXING AND RELAXING SOOTHING AND LIGHTING AND RELAXING SOOTHING RELAXING AND SOOTHING LIGHTING SOOTHING AND AND LIGHTING LIGHTING SOOTHING SOOTHING LIGHTINGLIGHTING LIGHTING

CHANGE OF ELEVATION + LANDFORMS

WATER FOUNTAIN + RIPPLING WATER RILL

CALMING PLANTING + SENSORY EXPERIENCES

IMAGINATIVE PLAY + HANDS-ON PLANTING ACTIVITIES 52

MIXTURE OF MATERIA

VARIOUS LANDFORM + SENSORY STIMULATION

NEED NEED NEED TO NEED TO NEED NEED BETO BE NEED CONTROLLABLE, TOBE CONTROLLABLE, TO TO BECONTROLLABLE, TO BE BE CONTROLLABLE, BE CONTROLLABLE, CONTROLLABLE, CONTROLLABLE, PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE TOTO MULTIPLE TO MULTIPLE TOMULTIPLE TO TO MULTIPLE TO MULTIPLE MULTIPLE USAGE MULTIPLE USAGE USAGE USAGE USAGE USAGE USAGE SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY ISSUE SAFETY SAFETY ISSUE SAFETY ISSUE OF ISSUE OF ISSUE ISSUE PLAY OF ISSUE PLAY OFPLAY OF STRUCTURE OF PLAY STRUCTURE OF PLAY PLAY STRUCTURE PLAY STRUCTURE STRUCTURE STRUCTURE STRUCTURE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE FOR SPACE SPACE FOR EMOTIONAL SPACE FOR FOR EMOTIONAL FOR FOR EMOTIONAL EMOTIONAL FOR EMOTIONAL EMOTIONAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT AND SUPPORT AND AND RESET AND RESET AND AND RESET RESET AND RESET RESET RESET SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE FOR SPACE SPACE FOR SOCIAL SPACE FOR FOR SOCIAL FOR FOR SOCIAL SOCIAL FOR LEARNING SOCIAL SOCIAL LEARNING SOCIAL LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL THERAPY PHYSICAL THERAPY THERAPY THERAPY THERAPY THERAPY + THERAPY + MOVEMENTS MOVEMENTS ++MOVEMENTS + MOVEMENTS + MOVEMENTS MOVEMENTS + MOVEMENTS SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY STIMULATION SENSORY STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION

NEED TO BE CONTROLLABLE, PREDICTABLE ADAPTABLE TO MULTIPLE USAGE SAFETY ISSUE OF PLAY STRUCTURE SPACE FOR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT AND RESET SPACE FOR SOCIAL LEARNING PHYSICAL THERAPY + MOVEMENTS SENSORY STIMULATION NEEDNEED NEED TO BE NEED TO TO NEED CONTROLLABLE, BE BE TOCONTROLLABLE, TO CONTROLLABLE, BEBE CONTROLLABLE, CONTROLLABLE, PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE PREDICTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE ADAPTABLE TO MULTIPLE TO TOMULTIPLE MULTIPLE TOTO MULTIPLE USAGE MULTIPLE USAGE USAGE USAGE USAGESAFETY SAFETY SAFETY ISSUE SAFETY SAFETY ISSUE ISSUE OF ISSUE PLAY OF ISSUE OFPLAY STRUCTURE PLAY OFOF PLAY STRUCTURE STRUCTURE PLAY STRUCTURE STRUCTURE SPACESPACE SPACE FORSPACE EMOTIONAL SPACE FOR FORFOR EMOTIONAL EMOTIONAL FOR EMOTIONAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT AND SUPPORT RESET AND ANDAND RESET RESET AND RESET RESET SPACESPACE SPACE FORSPACE SOCIAL SPACE FOR FORFOR SOCIAL SOCIAL FOR LEARNING SOCIAL SOCIAL LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL THERAPY PHYSICAL THERAPY THERAPY + THERAPY THERAPY MOVEMENTS ++MOVEMENTS MOVEMENTS ++ MOVEMENTS MOVEMENTS SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY STIMULATION SENSORY STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION

USE USE OF USE USE OF WATER USE USE OF WATER OF USE WATER OF OF WATER ELEMENTS OF WATER WATER ELEMENTS WATER ELEMENTS ELEMENTS ELEMENTS ELEMENTS ELEMENTS THEORY THEORY THEORY THEORY OF THEORY THEORY OF THEORY LOOSE OF LOOSE OFLOOSE OF OF LOOSE PARTS OF LOOSE LOOSE PARTS LOOSE PARTS PARTS PARTS PARTS PARTS

SENSORY STIMULATION

PROSPECT PROSPECT PROSPECT PROSPECT PROSPECT PROSPECT REFUGE PROSPECT REFUGE REFUGE REFUGE REFUGE REFUGE REFUGE

ESCAPE ESCAPE ESCAPE SPACE ESCAPE ESCAPE SPACE ESCAPE SPACE SPACE FOR SPACE SPACE FOR CHILDREN SPACE FOR FOR CHILDREN FOR FOR CHILDREN CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN CHILDREN TO CHILDREN TO CALM TO CALM TOCALM TO TO DOWN CALM TO DOWN CALM CALM DOWN CALM DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE OF SEQUENCE OF EXPERIENCE OF EXPERIENCE OFEXPERIENCE OF OF EXPERIENCE OF EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE ESCAPE SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER AND SMALLER AND AND ENCLOSED AND ENCLOSED AND AND ENCLOSED ENCLOSED AND ENCLOSED ENCLOSED SPACE ENCLOSED SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE

USE OF WATER ELEMENTS THEORY OF LOOSE PARTS USE OF USE USE WATER OF USE OFUSE WATER WATER OF ELEMENTS OF WATER WATER ELEMENTS ELEMENTS ELEMENTS ELEMENTS THEORY THEORY THEORY OF THEORY LOOSE THEORY OF OFLOOSE LOOSE OF PARTS OF LOOSE LOOSE PARTS PARTS PARTS PARTS

PROSPECT REFUGE PROSPECT PROSPECT PROSPECT PROSPECT REFUGE PROSPECT REFUGE REFUGE REFUGE REFUGE

TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED TOTO OUTDOOR TO OUTDOOR TOOUTDOOR TO TO OUTDOOR TO OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR

ESCAPE SPACE FOR CHILDREN TO CALM DOWN SEQUENCE OF EXPERIENCE SMALLER AND ENCLOSED SPACE ESCAPE ESCAPE SPACE ESCAPE ESCAPE SPACE SPACE FORSPACE CHILDREN SPACE FOR FORFOR CHILDREN CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN TO CHILDREN CALM TO TOCALM CALM DOWN TOTO CALM DOWN CALM DOWN DOWN DOWN SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE SEQUENCE OF SEQUENCE EXPERIENCE OF OFEXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE OFOF EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE ESCAPE SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER AND SMALLER ENCLOSED AND ANDAND ENCLOSED ENCLOSED AND ENCLOSED SPACE ENCLOSED SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE

TREATMENT INTERGRATED TO OUTDOOR TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT TREATMENT INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED INTERGRATED TO OUTDOOR TO TOOUTDOOR OUTDOOR TOTO OUTDOOR OUTDOOR

DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT CHOICES DIFFERENT CHOICES CHOICES CHOICES CHOICES CHOICES FOR CHOICES FOR CHILDREN FOR FOR CHILDREN FOR FOR CHILDREN CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN CHILDREN CHILDREN DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT SENSORY DIFFERENT SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY STILUMATION SENSORY STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION WATER WATER WATER WATER FEATURE WATER WATER FEATURE WATER FEATURE FEATURE FEATURE FEATURE FOR FOR FEATURE TOUCH, FOR FOR TOUCH, FOR FOR TOUCH, TOUCH, FOR TOUCH, TOUCH, TOUCH,PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING FOR PLANTING FOR TACTILE FOR FOR TACTILE FOR FOR TACTILE TACTILE FOR STIMULATION TACTILE TACTILE STIMULATION TACTILE STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL - USE - USE - OF USE - USE OF -VISUAL - USE USE OF VISUAL -OF USE VISUAL OF OF VISUAL CUES OF VISUAL VISUAL CUES VISUAL CUES CUES CUES CUES FENCED CUES FENCED FENCED FENCED UP FENCED FENCED UP FENCED AREA UP AREA UPAREA UP UP FOR AREA FOR UP AREA AREA SAFETY FOR AREA FOR SAFETY FOR FOR SAFETY SAFETY FOR SAFETY SAFETY SAFETYSPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE FOR SPACE SPACE FOR OUTDOOR SPACE FOR FOR OUTDOOR FOR FOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR FOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR MODELING OUTDOOR MODELING MODELING MODELING MODELING MODELING MODELING TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION FROM FROM FROM FROM INDOOR FROM INDOOR FROM INDOOR FROM INDOOR INDOOR INDOOR TOINDOOR TO OUTDOOR TO OUTDOOR TOOUTDOOR TO TO OUTDOOR TO OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR VISUAL, VISUAL, VISUAL, VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, AUDITORY AUDITORY AUDITORY AUDITORY STIMULATION AUDITORY STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION

DIFFERENT CHOICES FOR CHILDREN DIFFERENT SENSORY STILUMATION WATER FEATURE FOR TOUCH, PLANTING FOR TACTILE STIMULATION NON-VERBAL - USE OF VISUAL CUES FENCED UP AREA FOR SAFETY SPACE FOR OUTDOOR MODELING TRANSITION FROM INDOOR TO OUTDOOR DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT CHOICES DIFFERENT CHOICES CHOICES FOR CHOICES CHOICES CHILDREN FOR FORFOR CHILDREN CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN CHILDREN DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT DIFFERENT SENSORY DIFFERENT SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY STILUMATION SENSORY STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION STILUMATION WATER WATER WATER FEATURE WATER WATER FEATURE FEATURE FOR FEATURE FEATURE TOUCH, FOR FORFOR TOUCH, TOUCH, FOR TOUCH, TOUCH, PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING PLANTING FOR PLANTING TACTILE FOR FORFOR TACTILE TACTILE FOR STIMULATION TACTILE TACTILE STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL NON-VERBAL - USE-OF -USE USE VISUAL - OF USE OF - USE VISUAL VISUAL OF CUES OF VISUAL VISUAL CUES CUES CUES FENCED CUES FENCED FENCED UP FENCED FENCED AREA UP UPAREA FOR AREA UPUP AREA SAFETY FOR FOR AREA FOR SAFETY SAFETY FOR SAFETY SAFETYSPACESPACE SPACE FORSPACE OUTDOOR SPACE FOR FORFOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR FOR OUTDOOR MODELING OUTDOOR MODELING MODELING MODELING MODELING TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION FROMFROM FROM INDOOR FROM INDOOR FROM INDOOR TO INDOOR INDOOR OUTDOOR TO TOOUTDOOR OUTDOOR TOTO OUTDOOR OUTDOO VISUAL, AUDITORY STIMULATION VISUAL, VISUAL, VISUAL, AUDITORY VISUAL, VISUAL, AUDITORY AUDITORY AUDITORY STIMULATION AUDITORY STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION STIMULATION

TREATMENT INTERGRATED TO OUTDOOR

DELING

PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ACTIVITY ACTIVITY ACTIVITY ACTIVITY AREA AREA ACTIVITY AREA WITH AREA WITH AREA AREA WITH AREA WITH WITH WITH WITH SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY BREAK SENSORY BREAK BREAK BREAK SPACE/ROOM BREAK BREAK SPACE/ROOM BREAK SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR GARDENING OUTDOOR GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING AND RELAXING AND AND SOOTHING AND SOOTHING AND AND SOOTHING SOOTHING AND SOOTHING SOOTHING LIGHTING SOOTHING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING

TRANSITION FROM INDOOR TO OUTDOOR

ALS + CHALLENGE

SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE FOR SPACE SPACE FOR STAFF SPACE FOR FOR STAFF FOR FOR STAFF & STAFF FOR CHILDREN & STAFF STAFF CHILDREN &STAFF &CHILDREN CHILDREN && CHILDREN CHILDREN & CHILDREN

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AREA WITH SENSORY BREAK SPACE/ROOM OUTDOOR GARDENING PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ACTIVITY AREA ACTIVITY ACTIVITY AREA WITH AREA AREA WITH WITH AREA WITH WITH SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY SENSORY BREAK SENSORY BREAK BREAK SPACE/ROOM BREAK BREAK SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM SPACE/ROOM OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR OUTDOOR GARDENING OUTDOOR GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING GARDENING RELAXING AND SOOTHING LIGHTING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING RELAXING AND RELAXING SOOTHING AND ANDAND SOOTHING SOOTHING AND SOOTHING LIGHTING SOOTHING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING

INTRIGUING ENTRY DESIGN + DEFINED BOUNDARY

ADAPTABLE SPACE + INCLUSIVENESS

VISUAL VISUAL VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE VISUAL SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE

WATER FOUNTAIN + MIXTURE OF TEXTURE AND COLOR

ADA ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ADA ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE ADA ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE

VISUAL SIGNAGE SPACE FOR STAFF & CHILDREN VISUAL VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE VISUAL VISUAL SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SIGNAGE SPACESPACE SPACE FORSPACE STAFF SPACE FOR FORFOR STAFF STAFF &FOR CHILDREN STAFF &STAFF &CHILDREN CHILDREN & CHILDREN & CHILDREN

WINDMILL + SENSORY STIMULATION

INTERACTIVE PLAY STRUCTURES + EDUCATION EXPERIENCE 53

ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ACCESSIBLE ADA ADAADA ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE ADA ACCESSIBLE ACCESSIBLE

ACCESSIBILITY + VISUAL GUIDANCE

12 COMPREHENSIVE GUIDELINE

Photo of The Sensory Arts Garden at the Els Center for Excellence.

Image courtesy of DIRTWORKS. 54

OVERVIEW Compiling the data and information acquired from my research, I was able to come up with a list of preliminary therapeutic garden design guidelines and toolkit. These are in my opinion truly essential components to create a safe and efficient therapeutic gardens for children with autism.

COMPREHENSIVE GUIDELINE 1. ENSURE SAFETY AND SECURITY: In designing any space for children, safety is one of the most important goals. Children with autism are often curious and sometimes unwilling to follow orders. Therefore, it is important to provide enclosure at all sides of the therapeutic garden to keep the children from wandering off, and to enable the staff and administrators to monitor/secure the children during an outdoor play session.

Photo of Trellis Screen.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

Photo of Color fence.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

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Photo of trellis fence.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

2. FACILITATE SENSORY INTEGRATION ACTIVITIES Children with ASD are much more likely to demonstrate unusual, or lack of responses to sensory stimuli than typically developing children (Kern et al. 2008), therefore they may benefit from strong multi-sensory landmarks and activities which will attract the shared attention of all children. Include multi-sensory stimuli within the environment, providing opportunities to that stimulate or soothe the visual, tactile, olfactory, auditory of children.

Photo of auditory sensory play.

Image courtesy of Playground Equipment.

Photo of Sandbox.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

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Photo of outdoor ball play.

Image courtesy of ParentCircle.

3. CREATE CLEAR PHYSICAL STRUCTURE: When a child can feel and guide through his/her environment easily, emotional security rises and the child feels an increased sense of control. The design of a therapeutic garden for children with ASD must be clear, orderly, and structured. Organize environment with clear visual and physical boundaries. Avoid ambiguity and elements that might confuse and frustrate the child. These will help to create a definite context for each activity in association with a given space.

The layout should provide a clear image for the children to determine where to go, how to get there, and what to do easily.

Photo of edging planters.

Image courtesy of GettyImage.

Photo of Playground design.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

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Photo of Leichtag Family Healing Garden.

Image courtesy of RHCSD.

4. PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY IN SPACE ARRANGEMENT AND STRUCTURE DESIGN: Flexible environment to accommodate a wide range of functional skills and different teaching paradigms. The space should allow for some change without costly or time-consuming renovations. Provide spaces and structures with loose parts for sensory play including manipulation and social expression.

Photo of outdoor building blocks.

Image courtesy of Imagination Playground.

Photo of string play structure.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

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Photo of communication zone.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

5. PROVIDE VISUAL CUES FOR DIRECTION AND INSTRUCTIONS: Children with ASD face challenges in interacting socially, using language, and having limited interests or repetitive behaviors.

Providing visual cues and instructions would help them to communicate better and follow directions. Visual cues indicate the sequence of steps to be followed when performing certain activities – in the spaces where these are carried out – by means of not only written guidance, but also images, pictures, visual schedules, etc.

Photo of outdoor visual cues board.

Image courtesy of Dee Debbie.

Photo of plant tags.

Image courtesy of Stacy Risenmay.

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Photo of pathway patterns.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

6. CREATE OPPORTUNITY FOR PROPRIOCEPTIVE ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE CHILDREN’S MOTOR SKILLS AND RELIEVE STRESS: Children with Autism might experience stress, sadness and other negative feelings throughout the day, thus it’s important to create an outlet for these emotions in the outdoor area. The therapeutic garden could provide a physical outlet for the release of unwanted feelings of children with ASD. (More important and essential for children that are older)

Photo of obstacle courses for children.

Image courtesy of GettyImages.

Photo of active play structure.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

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Photo of playing mound.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

7. PROVIDE WITHDRAWAL SPACES: Controlling sensory input and avoiding sensory overload are important goals of many therapeutic programs for children with autism. Use spatial arrangement to create a private withdrawal space where the children can take a “sensory break� and get away and reset themselves.

Photo of outdoor private space.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

Photo of plant tents.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

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Photo of shaded seating area.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

8. MAXIMIZE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE SPACE The therapeutic garden should be accessible to all children through ADA-accessible design and route arrangement. Impairments in movement coordination and balance, epilepsy, restricted attention span, and other difficulties might cause children with ASD to encounter physical challenges in an outdoor environment. The garden should encourage typically developing children to enjoy the space as much as children with autism do.

Photo of accessible play pattern.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

Photo of inclusive playground.

Image courtesy of Disability Awareness.

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Photo of ADA Accessible path.

Image courtesy of Dallas Builder.

9. PROVIDE INTERACTIONS WITH NATURE: The therapeutic garden should provide opportunities for the child to experience nature. Choose appropriate and stimulating plants and provide places to have hands - on experience with nature, and experiences the sun, shade, wind, and rain.

Photo of children playing with water.

Image courtesy of GettyImages.

Photo of Sensory planting.

Image courtesy of Sensory Technology LLC.

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Photo of children touching plantings.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

10. DESIGN FOR EASY MAINTENANCE Therapeutic gardens should ultimately remain low maintenance in order to maximize its efficiency. The cost of up keeping will be low and at the same time could be integrated into a part of activity for the children, such as watering and learning about the care of plants.

Photo of LandCare team of Leichtag Family Garden.

Image courtesy of LandCare.

Photo of low maintenance landsacpe.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

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Photo of children interacting with nature.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

11. PROVIDE SOCIAL SPACE FOR ALL: An effective therapeutic garden also has to include a space to encourage social interactions. A social space will not only benefit the children but also allow staff members and parents to interact with each other.

Photo of children painting outdoor.

Image courtesy of Pentagon Play.

Photo of families interacting with water.

Image courtesy of BASE Landsacpe.

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Photo of Mary’s Garden.

Image courtesy of BASE Landsacpe.

13 BUILDING BLOCKS

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OVERVIEW The design “building blocks” is for landscape architects and school administrators whom has the interest of developing an appropriate learning and living environment for children with ASD. In addition, the “building blocks” when laid out as a brochure, can be viewed by educators, caregivers and therapists as an informative reading material, allowing them to learn more about therapeutic gardens and integrate small-scale custom installations in their own place. * The sensory planting list is tailored towards landscape in California only. Adaptation is needed when applying to landscape in other zones.

BUILDING BLOCKS

??

SENSORY STIMULATION

HOW TO READ THE BUILDING BLOCKS?

GUIDELINE SCALE COMPLEXITY THEME

AXONOMETRIC VIEW OF THE INSTALLATION

CORRELATING GUIDELINES FROM P55-65

01 02 03

HARDSCAPE

...

GREENSPACE

SOCIAL SPACE

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS

• OTHER COMPONENTS THAT CAN EASILY BE PART OF THIS COMPONENT ON THE LEVEL OF INSTALLATION SMALL, MEDIUM OR LARGE SCALE COMPLEXITY OF THE DESIGN OR INSTALLATION THEMES THAT ARE RELATED TO THE GUIDELINES OR SCENARIOS

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DESIGN BLOCK. 67

01

TRELLIS FENCING GUIDELINE

01

SCALE

LARGE

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 02 ADA ACCESSIBLE WALKWAY + VISUAL CUES

SAFETY

Trellis fencing offers a tall and more natural screen to block of unnecessary distraction from the outside. It also provides space to grow climbing plants up it or plant trees and bushes against it.

02

ADA ACCESSIBLE WALKWAY + VISUAL CUES GUIDELINE

05 08 09

SCALE

LARGE

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 04 MUSIC ROAD • 07 PLANT TROLLEY • 09 WATER STREAM ALONG SAFETY, ACCESSIBILITY THE PATH

ADA-accessible walkway provides equal and easy access to most parts of the garden for children with physical challenges. In addition, visual cues are installed for non-verbal children and for educational purposes.

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03

RAINBOW ENTRANCE GUIDELINE

02 03 08

SCALE

SMALL

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 01 TRELLIS FENCING • 04 MUSIC ROAD

COMPLEXITY THEME

CONNECTION, VISUAL

Rainbow entrance creates a connection between the indoor space and the outdoor area. It also provides an established guide for direction, as well as visual stimulation.

04

MUSIC ROAD GUIDELINE

02 03 05

SCALE

MEDIUM

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 02 ADA ACCESSIBLE WALKWAY + VISUAL CUES • 03 RAINBOW ENTRY

AUDITORY, DIRECTION

Music road consists of many hollow tubes in various color for creating sounds and music.

The music tubes are installed along the side of the main walkway for easy access and visual boundary. Children are welcomed to play with the instrument as they walk by.

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05

SCHOOL GARDEN GUIDELINE

02 04 09 11

SCALE

SMALL

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 07 PLANT TROLLEY • 11 RELAXING MEADOW

COMPLEXITY THEME

SOCIAL, GARDEN

School garden provides opportunities for increased socialization - it encourages small group and one to one interaction. These activities help to increase fine and gross motor skills, body awareness, and motion, while offer endless enjoyment with teachers and friends.

06

SEATING UNDER TREES GUIDELINE

07 09 11

SCALE

SMALL

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 11 RELAXING MEADOW • 12 RESET & RELAX SPACE

COMPLEXITY THEME

SOCIAL, RESTING

Searing area under the tree provides social opportunities between students and teachers. In addition, it also creates small, shaded reset space with less sensory input for children to calm themselves.

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07

PLANT TROLLEY GUIDELINE

04 05

SCALE

LARGE

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 02 ADA ACCESSIBLE WALKWAY VISUAL CUES • 05 SCHOOL GARDEN

FLEXIBILITY, GARDEN

Plant trolley is a fun installation to engage children with nature and different plants. Each trolley can be planted according to its usage or sensory stimulation, and offers flexibility in its location.

08

FLEXIBLE PLAY SPACE GUIDELINE

04 06 11

SCALE

LARGE

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 04 MUSIC ROAD • 13 ROLLING HILL PLAY SPACE • 14 DRAWING WALL

FLEXIBILITY, PLAY

Flexible play space is consist of loose parts that can be moved around and fixed play structure.

Children will have the sense of security that they need, but can gradually overcome some of the fears and challenges that they face by playing with the flexible parts of the playground.

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09

WATER STREAM ALONG THE PATH GUIDELINE

02 08 09

SCALE

MEDIUM

COMPLEXITY THEME

AUDITORY, TACTILE, OLFACTORY

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 02 ADA ACCESSIBLE WALKWAY + VISUAL CUES • 10 SANDBOX THERAPY • 12 RESET & RELAX SPACE

Water features provide soothing sights and sounds that help children relax and destress.

Starting from a drinking station, the water stream flows along the walkway to create a sense of calmness and provoke children’s curiosity.

10

SANDBOX THERAPY GUIDELINE

02 04 11

SCALE

MEDIUM

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 09 WATER STREAM ALONG THE PATH • 12 RESET & RELAX SPACE • 14 DRAWING WALL

THERAPY, SOCIAL

Sandbox therapy can stimulate creative play and symbolic play for children with autism. It allows the child with autism to express their feelings. By creating individual sand play stations and group sand play stations, children and therapists can engage in different therapies in an controlled, shaded outdoor setting.

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11

RELAXING MEADOW GUIDELINE

02 07 09

SCALE

LARGE

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 06 SEATING UNDER TREES • 12 RESET & RELAX SPACE

RESTING, GARDEN

Relaxing meadow is an open grass area for children to maximize their interaction with nature, and reduce their sensory input and relax.

12

RESET & RELAX SPACE GUIDELINE

03 07

SCALE

LARGE

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 06 SEATING UNDER TREES • 10 SANDBOX THERAPY • 11 RELAXING MEADOW

RESTING, THERAPY

The Reset & Relax Space is consisted of two curved wood seating structures. The seating structures create pocket spaces with limited sensory input and sense of security. Children can relax and reset themselves with the space freely and safely without other distractions.

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13

ROLLING HILL PLAY SPACE GUIDELINE

04 06 11

SCALE

MEDIUM

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 08 FLEXIBLE PLAY SPACE • 09 WATER STREAM ALONG THE PATH • 14 DRAWING WALL

PHYSICAL, PLAY

The rolling hill play space encourages children to exercise and provide opportunities for improving fine and gross motor skills, balance and coordination. It also creates social opportunities through collaboration and exercise.

14

DRAWING WALL GUIDELINE

03 06 11

SCALE

MEDIUM

COMPLEXITY THEME

COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS • 04 MUSIC ROAD • 08 FLEXIBLE PLAY SPACE • 13 ROLLING HILL PLAY SPACE

SOCIAL, VISUAL, PLAY

Things that are unpredictable can be intimidating for autistic children, thus the drawing wall is a fixed structure that provides drawing and physical exercise opportunities. The area also contains a comforting and predictable sequenced floor pattern to indicate its boundary.

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15

SENSORY PLANTING VISUAL PLANTING 1. California Poppy - Eschscholzia californica 2. Purple coneflowers - Echinacea purpurea 3. Ming Toy Daylily - Hemerocallis x ‘Ming Toy’ 4. Love-in-a-mist - Nigella damascena 5. Sunflower - Helianthus annuus 6. Regal Mist Pink Muhly Grass - Muhlenbergia capillaris ‘Lenca’ 7. Bird of Paradise - Strelitzia reginae

1 234567

OLFACTORY PLANTING 1. Tuscan Blue Rosemary - Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Tuscan Blue’ 2. Lavender Cotton - Santolina ericoides 3. Golden Jubilee Anise Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum ‘Golden Jubilee’ 4. Thumbelina Leigh English Lavender - Lavandula angustifolia ‘Thumbelina Leigh’ 5. Chocolate cosmos - Cosmos atrosanguineus

1 2345

75

15 - cont.

SENSORY PLANTING

AUDITORY PLANTING 1. Miscanthus oligostachyus - Nanus variegatus 2. Blue Wild Indigo - Baptisia australis 3. Chino Hills Purple Three-Awn Grass - Aristida purpurea ‘Chino Hills’ 4. Maiden Grass - Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’

1 234

EDIBLE PLANTING 1. Woodland strawberry - Fragaria vesca 2. Sunshine Blue Blueberry - Vaccinium x ‘Sunshine Blue 3. Lemon Verbena - Aloysia triphylla 4. Trumpet Honeysuckle - Lonicera sempervirens ‘Magnifica’ 5. Meyer Lemon (Tree) - Citrus meyeri 6. Pineapple Guava - Feijoa sellowiana

1 23456

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TACTILE PLANTING 1. Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass - Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’ 2. Lamb’s ears - Stachys byzantine 3. Jerusalem sage - Phlomis fruticosa 4. Little Bunny Dwarf Fountain Grass - Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’ 5. Foxtail Barley - Hordeum jubatum 6. Wormwood - Artemisia schmidtiana

1 23456

2

1 3

4

GROUNDCOVER + TREES 1. Pennsylvania Sedge - Carex pennsylvanica 2. Emerald Zoysia - Zoysia ‘Emerald’ 3. Thundercloud Purple Leaf Plum - Prunus cerasifera ‘Thunder-

5

cloud’ 4. Chinese pistache - Pistacia chinensis 5. Marina Strawberry Tree - Arbutus x ‘Marina’ 77

14 CONCEPTUAL SITE DESIGN 78

DESIGN INTENT To demonstrate how the guidelines and “building blocks” presented in the last section can be implemented into a real-world project, the design of Odyssey Learning Center will be presented.

CURRENT SITUATION

Odyssey Learning Center is a private school for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ages 5 to 13 years old. It is located at Orangevale, California.

Currently, the Odyssey learning center has an underdeveloped open grass area which has many potentials. In addition, the site does not has many planting to provide visual interests and shading.

During the interview with Principle Lovina, she mentioned that the staffs and student would like to see a more dynamic outdoor area in the future.

Photo of Odyssey Learning Center.

Image courtesy of Google Map.

By making use of the guidelines and “building blocks”, the area can be transformed into a more efficient and dynamic space for all.

Photo of Odyssey Learning Center.

Image courtesy of Lovina Robinson.

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80

WATER

PLANTS

DESIGN PLAN BUILDING

ROUTE + ZONE EXISTING ROUTE RED ROUTE YELLOW ROUTE BLUE ROUTE PURPLE ROUTE

BASE PLAN

AXONOMETRIC DIAGRAM 81

The design aims to provide a unique healing experience for each user.

The area is divided into different zones for varying purposes and level of activity. Children are free to choose the area they want to go to, base on their needs. Through the integration of paths and different zones, the children can experience the process of healing - if entering from the blue and purple route, the children can start with resetting and readjusting their emotions, then head on over to the yellow and red zone for challenging activities, vice versa.

Various programs such as sandbox therapy, flexible play structures and small rolling hills provide therapeutic opportunities, sensory stimulation and physical activities.

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RED AND YELLOW ZONES The red zone is the most active area on site, providing opportunities for physical activities and social play for children with ASD. The area consists of the drawing wall, rolling hills, loose play area and musical play structure, where children can express their creativity and social engagement.

The yellow zone is on the North-west side of the garden, which consists of the sandbox therapy area. It is more enclosed with sensory planting compared to the red zone.

In addition, it also provides ample space and shade structure for small group outdoor therapy sessions.

83

84

PURPLE ZONE Throughout the garden, there are walkways with colored patterns indicating the areas that children can head to. The purple zone consists of 3 relax & reset structure introduced in the “building blocks�. The wood panels provide screening and shading to ensure the calmness and peace within. The water feature runs along the pathway, which provides soothing sound in the purple zone. Sensory planting and visual signage also provides sensory stimulation at the connection point with the red zone.

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BLUE ZONE The blue zone consists of the public resting bench and plant trolley. Children can rest and bond with their peers or the staffs, or play with the flexible play trollies to interact with plants and nature. It functions as a transitional zone between the quite, private purple zone and the open, active red zone.

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15 CONCLUSION

Illustration of healing garden.

Image courtesy of Kathryn Aalto.

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In conclusion, a therapeutic garden can indeed act as an additional healing strategy for children with autism spectrum disorder due to the multitude of design elements it possesses.

The guideline that I have compiled, albeit only a preliminary one, was able to highlight several crucial design elements for an autistic children oriented therapeutic garden. Among my 11 guidelines, I find that ensuring the safety and security, and providing interaction with nature to be most easily accomplished. They are elements that share similarities with normal gardens that are not purposefully therapeutic. On the other hand, what I find the most important out of these guidelines would be to include withdrawal spaces in the design.

With sensory overload being a common problem among autistic children, having a place to escape towards, reset and relax is very important. The withdrawal space could also be a key solution to reducing behavioral excesses from autistic children.

The 14 design “building blocks�s derived from the guidelines also serves an important purpose. They are the first step towards the commodification of therapeutic gardens in the landscape architect community, as landscape architects could hopefully design therapeutic gardens more efficiently by picking and combining these versatile pieces.

Optimistically, this might be marked as a meaningful effort in advancing the designing process of therapeutic gardens, improving its likeliness in catering to individuals with other types of mental illness and raising awareness towards it.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

BASE Landscape, Work: CMOSC. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.baselandscape.com/work-cmosc Brand, A. (2010). Living in the community; housing design for adults with autism. London; Helen Hamlyn Center Byström, K., Grahn, P., & Hägerhäll, C. (2019). Vitality from Experiences in Nature and Contact with Animals-A Way to Develop Joint Attention and Social Engagement in Children with Autism?. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(23), 4673. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234673 Christensen, K., & Romero, L. P. R. (2016). Creating Outdoor Play Environments to Support Social Interactions of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder; A Scoping Study. Landscape Research Record, 5.

Dawson, G. and Adams, A. Initiation and Social Responsiveness in Autistic Children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 12: 209-225.

Freud, S. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. New York: Norton, 1961. (Original work published in 1920.)

Gerlach-Spriggs, N., Kaufman, R.E., and Warner, Jr., S.B. Restorative Gardens. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.

Gesler, Wilbert M. “Therapeutic landscapes: theory and a case study of Epidaurus, Greece”, 1993.

Herbert, Bonnie Barnes. “Design Guidelines of a Therapeutic Garden for Autistic Children.” Design Guidelines of a Therapeutic Garden for Autistic Children, 2003.

Institute for Child and Adolescent Development. (2020, February 18). Retrieved from https://www.reedhilderbrand. com/works/institute_for_child_and_adolescent_development Kaplan, R. and Kaplan, S. The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Lee, R. (2016, January 4). How to Design a Child-Size Science Park Like a Playground. Retrieved from https://land8. com/how-to-design-a-child-size-science-park-like-a-playground/ Marcus, C. C. (2016). The Future of Healing Gardens. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 9(2), 172174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1937586715606926

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Marcus, C. C., & Barnes, M. (1999). Healing gardens: therapeutic benefits and design recommendations. New York: Wiley.

Marcus, C. C., Sachs, N. A., & Ulrich, R. S. (2014). Therapeutic landscapes: an evidence-based approach to designing healing gardens and restorative outdoor spaces. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Moore, R. Plants for Play: A Plant Selection Guide for Children’s Outdoor Play Environments. Berkeley, CA: MIG Communications, 1993.

Mostafa M. (2008). An Architecture for Autism: Concepts of design Interventions for the autistic user. International Journal of Architectural Research, 2(1), 189-211.

Piaget, J. Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood. New York: Norton, 1962.

Santostefano, Sebastiano. (2013). Child Therapy in The Great Outdoors: a relational view. Place of publication not identified: ROUTLEDGE. Souter-Brown, G. (2015). Landscape and urban design for health and well-being: using healing, sensory and therapeutic gardens. London: Routledge.

Taylor, Gordon and Guy Cooper. 2001. Anatomy of a Healing Garden. Landscape Architect and Specifier News, FebSantostefano, Sebastiano. Child Therapy in The Great Outdoors: a relational view.

Ulrich, R.S. and Addoms, D.L. Psychological and Recreational Benefits of a Residential. Park. Journal of Leisure Research, 13: 43-65.

Ulrich, R.S. View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery. Science, 224: 420-421.

Vygotsky, L.S. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambrige, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.

Wolfberg, P. J. (2015). Chapter 2: The Nature of Autism, Chapter 3: The Nature of Play. Play and Imagination in Children with Autism, 2nd Edition (pp. 33-70). Teachers College Press.

Whitehouse, Sandra, James W. Varni, Michael Seid, Clare Cooper Marcus, Mary Jane Enserg, Jenifer R. Jacobs and Robyn S. Mehlenbeck. 2001. Evaluating a children’s hospital garden environment: Utilization and consumer satisfaction, Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 21, pp. 301–314.

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APPENDIX INTERVIEW NOTES Interview 1: Autism Reserarcher Skyler Gao-ABA therapist, PhD Student 1.

Can you give me a brief description of the spectrum of autism and describe the diagnosis process of an autistic children?

Answer: a.

Autism is on a spectrum, which covers a wide range of behaviors and sometime combines with ADHD and other psychology issues b. How to diagnose: parents fill out the form at the hospital based on children’s daily behaviors, speech patterns and other factors – score assessment- light, medium, and severe / level 1,2,3 2.

Can you describe some common traits of a child with mild – moderate autism? What are they like? a.

Can you describe a play cycle of a child with Autism? How do they usually behave during a play session?

Answer: a.

Repetitive behaviors / stereotype b.

Has and follow a routine of life and fixation on routines and sequence of activities: e.g. Brush your teeth before eating breakfast c. Social problems: hard to communicate due to children’s inability to relate to other people and have sympathy with other people – also lack of language ability: Children 2-3 years old have poor language skills and are unable to communicate directly. More often than not, language intervention is needed for children who cannot communicate-a systematic communication method to promote/stimulate pronunciation, picture swapping/dialog/picture/sign language, d.

Difficulty to concentrate. Less than 5 mins, the children will play on the ground during the class, and then they can only get to the table 3.

What are the major treatments for these children?

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a.

Main focus: ABA treatment – applied behavior analysis – Behavioral therapy that can be integrated into different activities/teaching – one means can teach numbers-everything will teach b.

Play time/play therapy / Companion play time 4.

What are the current limitations of the methods used in treating children with autism? a.

Are these methods mainly conducted in an indoor setting? b.

Could these be integrated to an outdoor setting? If so, how much percentage can it be integrated / switch to in an outdoor setting?

ABA Limitation – Inflexible-behavior is divided into ABC to distinguish-consequences A: What happened before the action-previous events B: Behavior C: Consequences Use the order of ABC to distinguish + measure the result-the result is to strengthen or punish you Reinforcement: benefit rewards, increase behavior; punishment: criticism reduce behavior The basic concept of ABA: behavior is shaped by consequences-good results increase the occurrence of behaviormore rigid-similar to zoo training small animals? There will be rewards like snacks and play time or toys when you perform well in the class. Parents are unacceptable at first. They feel that they are like small animals trained in the zoo. Shaped-well done parents verbal praise + hang out + delay and relatively large rewards, but ABA therapy will be an immediate reward-eating and toys 5.

How long are the therapy sessions and how often is it conducted? N/A 6.

Are these sessions more favorable in a group setting or in a private one on one setting? a.

How does it vary among the different treatments?

Reply: Originally in China, basically indoors Early intensive intervention: requires a lot of rounds and operations-the teacher gives instructions, students respond-strengthening behavior-needs many rounds to strengthen the behavior, early in a relatively loose environment, may not get the number of rounds – The indoor environment is relatively simple, there are not many triggers to attract attention, and tidy – a lot of operation training Are there any activities that can be changed to outdoor? -Early intensive intervention: 3 hours of intensive intervention in the morning, there will be group activities of 4-5 children of the same age in the afternoon, 93

the environment will be looser-there will be many works and play on the wall-school environment, downstairs playground + playground Go play Frequency of going out: Every day will go out for 1-2 hours, but the situation of the child on base-if the child’s ability is good, it can be taken out for outdoor activities; if the child is poor, unable to follow the instructions, the stereotyped behavior is very serious or There may be self-harming behavior, so he/her won’t be taken out to play 7.

Do you know anything about healing gardens? a.

Scenario 1: If no, explain what it is with an example and prompt further interactions b.

Scenario 2: Yes i.

Ask about opinion on it, “Are they commonly found in autism focused facilities?”

There is no space for special groups + children with autism – most domestic units rent out rooms in office buildings as consulting rooms, most children still do indoor activities, outdoor activities + sports activities in separate rooms, rarely Use outdoor space ii.

How is it utilized/used? (common) iii. In your opinion, since therapeutic gardens are optional right now, should it become a mandatory part of healthcare facilities/ schools for children with autism? (uncommon) It is necessary, but the reality is that it is difficult for them to simply make a place. The children need to be accompanied by a one-to-one teacher. The children have poor ability to listen to instructions and follow the rules. The environment in the house is better to control them.

Design Guidelines/suggestions: 1.

Safety issues: children will eat whatever they see, might eat sand, and go to relatively high slide will not climb down, avoid dangerous design, more humanized design, 2.

Arrangement: The child cannot accept the change, order and position. When the child is playing, changing the position cannot accept the change. When the classroom is in the classroom, the table will shift and change the position. Try to let the child adapt to change of position. The play space can be Change appearance and diversity 8.

What are some new and upcoming methods of treatment that you feel would become very important in the near future?

Answer: The effect of ABA is the fastest, and the cost of music and dance therapy is relatively high. It requires a separate space and a special therapist-the cost of time and money. The effect and gain may not necessarily have the effect of ABA. The child will have it before the age of 6 The critical period of therapeutic intervention, 94

if some milestones are not established within the critical period, subsequent treatment may be more difficult Key Takeaway: 1.

Autism is a spectrum, which covers a wide range of behaviors and sometime combines with ADHD and other psychology/physical issues.

2.

Children with autism often display repetitive behaviors / stereotypes, a fixation on routines and sequence of activities, lack of social communication skills, and sometimes find it hard to focus on current tasks.

3. Children with autism (2-3) lacks of language skills – cannot communicate with therapist verbally, sometimes rely on sign languages and pictures.

4.

Applied behavior analysis is the most applicable therapy method for children with Autism, along with play therapy or companion play time. ABA – the results of an action lead to the repetition/reduction of this action. Instant feedback and praise from teachers.

5.

Outdoor ABA? Not entirely likely since early intervention needs many rounds, needs to be in a controllable space, less triggers to distract children. In order to set up milestones for children before 6.

6. Outdoor area – present: no specific design space for children with autism – activities, exercises and relaxing activities often take place in office buildings (indoor). Outdoor playground is not tailored/suitable for their play (sometime unsafe).

7.

Outdoor area guidelines: 8.

Need to be controllable, predictable: – children’s inability to follow orders may cause problems. Therefore the outdoor area needs to be within a limited, controllable space.

9.

Design like a play space for “normal kids” – adapt to “normal life” of a children, however still consider the special needs for children with ASD. 10. Safety issue: tailored to children with ASD, soft textures, safe materials – might eat, touch, smell a lot of the materials/plants, no too high 11.

Flexible/Change of positions – helping children to adapt to change

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Interview 2: LDA Professor at UC Davis Prof. Patsy Owens: 1.

Can you briefly share your viewpoints on therapeutic garden on school settings. Are they essential? Will they benefit a variety of groups?

A: Really important in her opinion due to several important factors. Firstly, emotional support for children and others. Allow them to reset, start over. Secondly, social learning, learning how to cooperate, get along and working together. It provides them with a good venue for it. Allow children to play with one another. Thirdly it provides physical therapy, through physical movement. Autistic children can learn through body movements and tactile environment. It is even more important for teachers in a school setting, relentless and no downtime, they need such an environment to reset and rest.

2.

If you would like to name a few elements in therapeutic gardens that would more effectively affect people, what would they be?

A: How to engage, hands, touch, hearing and smell (Sensory triggers).

Use nature as an element to achieve these. (through plants and animals, better than hardscape) Water in any form allows people to become responsive, sound of water is really restorative. Examples: Theory of loose parts, the role of loose parts and moving parts.

Prospect refuge, areas where teens can feel protected and comfortable, due to them not being seen.

Sequence of experience, how you move through the landscape, there are packets where you can explore and move from one place to the next.

3.

How do I evaluate the effectiveness of a therapeutic garden on its users? E.g. students/children/healthcare workers?

A: How they use is one you can look at. Physiological aspect, measurement of heart rate and blood pressure in different environments. The difference in HR and BP due to the difference in environment. Psychological, how does being in a specific place make them feel. Interventions, change things that can be manipulated and see how they interact to these changes. Social effect, behavior mapping, documenting how different environments are used. Generate, promote, separation of playing.

Learning, levels of attention, if they can focus on a specific task better after spending time in the therapeutic garden. Compare between another case where they are not exposed to the therapeutic garden, if the effects afterwards are better.

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4.

While working with children and families, what are some effective ways to introduce therapeutic garden ideas to people who needs special care (children with autisms, behavior disorders, etc.)?

A: Talking to parents to understand what are spaces they would like to have control over. Develop a clear definition of what a therapeutic garden is. Teachers/Parents, do a environmental autobiography, allow them to think about different places that matter and are important. Give some examples.

5.

What are the upcoming trends / new forms of therapeutic garden nowadays?

A: Meditative garden/ labyrinths, cautious on trends, and if they are working or not. Alzheimer’s might be a good comparing point to discover methods to create a therapeutic garden for autistic individuals.

6.

When designing to cater a variety of needs from a group of users, how can I accommodate/balance these needs? E.g. designing for autistic children, different therapies for different kids? *** (Optional? ) A: Segregation needs to be dealt carefully, handicapped accessibility needs to be designed to make them feel like they are still normal and not specifically singled out. Do not focus on making separate spaces, since the area is mainly designed for autistic children, while the staff and parents might not have too much time to spend there alone.

Suggestions: William Sullivan, study looking at classrooms and how having nature outside will positively impact students inside. Chapter on autistic children and Joe’s study.

Key Takeaway: 1.

Therapeutic garden in school settings provides - emotional support for children and others, allowing them to reset; - venues for social learning, learning how to cooperate with each other; - physical therapy, through physical movement. Autistic children can learn through body movements and tactile environment.

FOR teachers/family – reset and reset when stressed.

2.

Important design elements for therapeutic gardens - Engage, hands, touch, hearing and smell (Sensory triggers), achieve these using nature, water, theory of loose parts, prospect refuge and sequence of experience.

3. Evaluation of effectiveness – Physiological measurement through heart rate and blood pressure.

Psychological measurements through questionnaires and interviews. Interventions by altering specific elements of design. Behavior mapping and observing effects of before and after outdoor play time.

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4.

Trends or new forms of therapeutic garden designs – Meditative garden/ Labyrinths. Examining gardens or outdoor facilities for Alzheimer’s patients to draw comparisons and inspiration as they might require similar elements with Autistic individuals.

5.

Balancing needs of different users – Segregation of needs is to be dealt with carefully, designs cannot be made to single out specific users as they might feel alienated and different. The space should be designed with parents and children together in mind.

Interview 3: UCD Mind and Brain Institute Dr. Heath: 1.

Can you give me a brief description of the spectrum of autism and describe the diagnosis process of an autistic child?

A: Two main components of diagnosis, deficits in social communications and restriction in interests and repetitive behavior. Many different tools for different types of providers, screening, brief sets of questions (SCQ) 40 questions, if they score above a threshold they will carry on with more comprehensive testing.

Gold standard for behavioral assessment: ADOS (autism diagnostic operations schedule) for younger kids, its play base where there are lots of toys, playing with games and an opportunity for kids to request things and for examiner to observe their shared attention. ADOS done in person with the child, and Autism diagnostic interview done with the parent to know about the child outside, since ADOS will not entirely capture behaviors outside of the short window of testing. Range of ages: 2-3 and a half and older from 9-14 years old. Older kids will have more questions in ADOS. 2.

Can you describe traits of a child with mild – moderate autism? What are they like? a.

Can you describe a play cycle of a child with Autism? How do they usually behave during a play session?

A: Nothing is always present, looking at social interactions it is hard measure and record behavior since children are meeting with a stranger for their very first time and behaviors might vary. ADOS: observes their communication, their initiating interactions, pointing and gestures in speech, if they have difficulty in doing that. Reciprocal social interactions, are they using eye contact or facial expressions, and if they are using it correctly. Joint attention, if the child can interact with the examiner when performing an activity, not just fixated on an activity. Restricted and repetitive behaviors, unusual sensory interests, stuck on particular textures or movements (hand and finger mannerisms), intonations correspond on what they are expressing or feeling.

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No inflections and emotional sounds. There are situations where children do not display such symptoms.

3.

What are the major treatments for these children?

A: ABA, applied behavior analysis, umbrella term for a lot of different types of therapies and methods. Kids are also doing speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy (motor skills) Music therapy for some kids, based on specific needs, or what the family goals are. What are skills that’s most helpful for the child. Once they get into school, one on one support in school settings.

4.

What are the current limitations of the methods used in treating children with autism?

A: ABA is in some areas controversial, some adults feel that it wasn’t helpful to them as a child, but some feel that it is helpful. If the children are truly learning to do certain behaviors or are masking their own, not sure if they are doing better or is camouflaging.

Girls with autism looks very different from boys, diagnosed 5 times less often due to presentation. Is it due to biological differences or bias in the diagnostic system, a lot of factors that decides it. For girls a lot of symptoms might not be picked up or are concerning, culturally, autistic girls do not seem too different from normal girls because they learn how to mask and camouflage symptoms, hence show that they perform better.

Overall treatments and therapies can be very time consuming and intensive, some may have 40 hours a week of ABA. If family cannot afford the cost or time, children will not get the help they need. Sessions vary a lot, and it is very tiring for a toddler. MRIs done on kids when they are sleeping, for toddlers they move a lot and it is hard to do. a.

Are these methods mainly conducted in an indoor setting?

A: These are all usually conducted in doors or at the child’s home, but it depends on the type of therapies. b.

Could any of these methods be integrated to an outdoor setting? Can you name a few examples?

A: It is possible to convert part of the therapies or treatments to an outdoor setting but it depends on what type.

Behavioral issues will decide what setting, it is also best for different settings to be used when doing therapies because some children generalize the types of behavior they do in specific settings. They need to know that certain behaviors are not tied to locations.

Do you guys have therapeutic gardens in MIND institute?

A: not that she knows of in the vicinity.

5.

How long are the therapy sessions and how often is it conducted?

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(Refer Q4b) 6. Besides treatment function, do you foresee any benefits outdoor environment could bring to autism children?

7.

Do you know anything about healing gardens? a.

Are they commonly found in autism focused facilities? b.

How is it utilized/used? (Common) c.

In your opinion, since therapeutic gardens are optional right now, should it become a mandatory part of healthcare facilities/ schools for children with autism? (Uncommon) A: It is important for any of these facilities to have a place for children to escape to, such as a quiet room or a healing garden, or someplace with less sensory interruptions. Screaming, crying and tantrums will happen if they have no place to escape to or feel overwhelmed. Need place to calm down.

One thing about outdoor setting is that it could be hard to control, due to noises or outside factors. Wants somewhere smaller and enclosed, be under something not directly under the sun. What each child wants vary a lot. Let them choose what they want and go.

8.

What are some activity that you would expect a child to do when they are in a healing garden setting, what design elements would you hope to see in such a garden?

A: different sensory options, some children that requires more sensory input whereas some requires less. If more, you could put in water features to let them touch and make noises, for both visual and auditory needs.

Planting, a tactile sensory input.

9.

What are some new and upcoming methods of treatment that you feel would become very important in the near future?

A: Adapting different therapies to new settings and new situations could be beneficial, service coordinator that combines therapies. Regional centers for particular areas, connect a family to services. Different ABA provides or speech therapist, the center connects families to services best suited and geologically most convenient.

Key Takeaway: 1.

Diagnosis process for determining autism in children - Two main components of diagnosis, deficits in social communications and restriction in interests and repetitive behavior. Mainly through sets of questions or ADOS. Further questions will be provided for older children or for parents to answer about household scenarios.

2.

Traits of children with autism - Nothing is always present. Difficulties in their communication, their initiation 100

of interactions, pointing and gestures in speech. It is also common for them to have trouble with reciprocal social interactions, joint attention, restrictive and repetitive behavior as well as unusual sensory interests.

3.

Major treatments – ABA, speech, occupational and physical therapy. These treatments usually correspond with the family’s goals, depends on what they want to help their child achieve.

4.

Limitations of treatment methods – ABA, being the main method of treatment can be hit or miss as adults with autism responded that it did not help them. Girls are less likely to be diagnosed with autism because of biological differences of bias in the diagnostic system. Hence the methods of treatment might vary greatly.

Overall treatment sessions are also very time consuming and intensive, many children might not enjoy or feel comfortable with it.

5.

Integration of treatment methods to outdoor – Depends heavily on the type of treatment, but overall it is favorable to have different settings for different treatments to prevent generalization by the children.

6.

Mandatory outdoor setting or safe space - It is important for any of these facilities to have a place for children to escape to, such as a quiet room or a healing garden, or someplace with less sensory interruptions.

Wants somewhere smaller and enclosed, be under something not directly under the sun. What each child wants vary a lot. Let them choose where they want and go.

7.

Activities or design elements for therapeutic gardens – Different sensory options, water features and planting in an outdoor garden or greenhouse.

Interview 4: Odyssey Learning Center Principle Lovina: 1.

Can you describe a day in your school?

7.

When do you usually start working? When do you finish?

8:30-2:15 8.

How often can you take a break?

Once every 3-4 hours 9.

During the break, what do you usually do?

Get a drink, go to the bathroom, eat

Do you use the outdoor area during breaks?

No 2.

How many children are you usually responsible for?

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Basic info: 100 students, all are diagnosed with autism, serve kindergarten age to 12th grade; 9 classrooms, 10-12 students in each class, and each aid takes 2 students each so we have 5-6 aides 3.

Do they share similar symptoms of autism? Are the children grouped? If so how are they grouped? b.

Yes, many are similar but if you met one person with autism you met one person with autism c.

What are some of the common symptoms of your students? Are they usually often stimulus or under stimulus?

There is no common symptoms, most students are non-verbal, and have behavior issue. Communicate through sign language and text and picture exchange.

4.

How do you determine the appropriate activities for each child? d.

Can you describe a play cycle of a children with Autism? How do they usually behave during a play session? i.

Students do not typically play together. They play with adults and students are encouraged through modeling (visual, roleplaying between staff or teacher to instruct students to allow them to model behavior) ii.

There are little group playing session between students?

Yes, often play with teachers 5.

Can you give me a general idea of what a therapy session with these children is like?

1:1 and small group of no more than two students working with a therapist such as OT Can you further elaborate on the therapy session? What kind of therapy are conducted here? How activities do you guys do during these therapy session?

A: speech therapies and occupational therapies (modeling, visual along with verbal instructions) children with more understanding will have more modeling therapies. The IEP will decide on what the children need for therapies, some will have 15 mins a month and some a year. 15 mins a day or 2 hours a week, it depends heavily on the IEP and their needs.

6.

Is there an outdoor activity area in your school? e.

Can you describe the outdoor area for me?

Outdoor area is only for children, adults and staff have a staff room for resting and other functions. They do not have any improvements for outdoor area but hope to have an enclosed swimming pool area for year round swimming and safer environment. Outdoor area is fenced off.

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i.

Yes, it is a circular quad in the yard area and they do laps daily sometime 1-4 x a day. Also, a playground 1 x a day. Pool 1-3x a week in the summertime. Pool area only allowed to be used when the water is in a more appropriate temperature. ii.

Can you further describe the quad for me? How big is it? Are there any plants like bushes or trees on it?

Can you describe the playground for me too? Or send me pictures ? iii. How long does these laps exercises last? How long does playing on playground be? How many children will be on the playground in each play session? f.

What kind of activities are conducted there? i.

Walking, playing swimming g.

What are the children’s favorite activity? i.

Walking and swimming/swinging ii.

How do they respond to outdoor activity times? iii.

Sometimes taking them outside will be a bit hard to manage? What will your teachers do when there are children being uncooperative or throwing a tantrum?

A: walk it out or choose another activity, suggest breaks or if they want to go back in doors. h.

Does this area accommodate the staff and families too? i.

Families can use it i.

How often do you use it? How often does families of these children use it? What kinds of activities do you / the family do in this area? ii.

Typically families are not using it because we lock the school when kids go home iii. How you think it could be further improved to better accommodate both the children and the attending staff? iv.

I am not sure the quad or playground can be improved. The pool needs to be indoor/outdoor pool j.

If no, “What kind of outdoor area would be most beneficial for them?” k.

What we have works we just need the pool enclosed for year round swimming l.

Do you see any potential benefits of integrating outdoor spaces for children, as well as school staffs?

7.

What are some new and upcoming methods of treatment that you feel would become very important in the near future? Incorporate in the school or the outdoor area?

We could use an area for riding bikes but we have ran out of space on the campus.

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What are design elements you wish to add on or change in your playground area? Adding garden planting area?

More trees? More adaptable play structures?

Everything is designed properly to meet their goals, the most wanted facility will be a indoor pool with solar panels.

Key Takeaway: 1.

Children characteristics – Most children are non-verbal and as a result, visual and observable/interactable cues are important in design.

2.

Teacher’s responsibility – They are usually responsible for 10-12 students in a class.

3.

Outdoor area – The area is fenced up in order to maintain the safety of the children, it is important to note that future designs need to maintain this factor.

4.

Daily activities outdoor – consistent use of outdoor playground and lawn area, considered keeping and maintain the usage 5.

Long class period indoor – consider transition from indoor to outdoor. – 3-4 6.

Activities: do laps daily sometime 1-4 x a day, a playground 1 x a day. Pool 1-3x a week in the summertime.

7.

Staff breaks every 3-4 hours – usually in break room, not outdoor 8.

Mostly small group playing - 1:1 and small group of no more than two students working with a therapist such as OT 9.

Space for modeling outdoor – small and intimate area + Speech Therapy indoor

Interview 5: SPED Teachers DJUSD Ms. Keeler: 1.

Can you describe a day in your school?

A: Behavior intervention specialist, junior high and high school, most students have IEP, her, do consulting and support work too for other teachers/staff.

10. When do you usually start working? When do you finish?

Different everyday, who or where is most impacted or needs most assistant, attending IEP meetings and team meetings to discuss students and plan. 8am – 3pm in the afternoon. Varies depending on the students, 104

not a speech or occupational therapist, more like a consultant, go into classroom and interact with students, teachers and parents and instruct them on collecting data and achieve certain goals.

11.

How often can you take a break?

Sometimes students will take breaks with her, not just for crisis, build strong relationship with students so there will be someone for them to trust.

12. During the break, what do you usually do?

2.

How many children are you usually responsible for? How many of them are children with special needs or ASD? 3.

How do you determine the appropriate activities for each child?

A: look at what behavior they have the most often, eloping on campus or refusing to come to school. See which behaviors they want to get rid of and find replacement behaviors and then reinforce them. Most are one on one support, teach them to keep their hands to themselves, use kind words, stay in appropriate locations, toileting skills, hygiene, transitions from classes. a.

Can you describe a play cycle of a children with special needs? How do they usually behave during a play session?

4.

Can you give me a general idea of what a class session with these children is like?

5.

Is there an outdoor activity area in your school? a.

Can you describe the outdoor area for me? b.

How often is it used? c.

What kind of activities are conducted there? i.

Junior high and high school students have sensory needs, in elementary school they can go to playgrounds and climb or do intense physical activities, but in higher ages there are no replacements. Usually take walks or calm down through fresh air. PE activities, students with more sensory needs will give them a special schedule for these activities to calm them down or stimulate them better. Hope there are more activities, punching bags, lifting, pulling and intense physical input for students. Weather is a factor, if indoor its better.

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d.

What are the children’s favorite activity? e.

Does this area accommodate the staff and families too? ii.

How often do you use it? How often does families of these children use it? What kinds of activities do you / the family do in this area? iii. How you think it could be further improved to better accommodate both the children and the attending staff? f.

If no, “What kind of outdoor area would be most beneficial for them?” iv.

Sensory area or sensory room, it would be ideal to create these areas at all these sites. Physical activity area with relaxing and soothing lighting. Will most benefit students with sensory break room. g.

Do you see any potential benefits of integrating outdoor spaces for children, as well as school staffs? v.

Outside time is good for almost everyone, at junior highs, special education teachers like to do gardening with students outside or in a greenhouse. Students like to put hands in the dirt, watering and watch plants thrive and grow. Motor sensory students benefit most. Teach and bond in a different way through a fun activity.

6. What are some new and upcoming methods of treatment for children with special needs (e.g. Music therapy, dance therapy) that you feel would become very important in the near future? Incorporate in the school or the outdoor area?

7.

What are some aspects that I need to be careful about or really focus on when I’m designing for children with special needs or autism? a.

Visual cues are very important, a great thing to have. Making things ADA accessible, for some of the students that might have epilepsy. Playgrounds are mainly for younger children, but do not neglect sensory needs for older kids and students because it still persist. Something that cater to older children that is more appropriate and could provide them with a good amount of sensory stimulation.

Key Takeaway: 1.

Responsibility of Behavioral Intervention Specialist – Responsible for consulting and support work for other teacher and staff. Build strong relationships with students through break times in order for them to become trusting.

2.

Determination of appropriate activities - Observe what behavior they have the most often, such as eloping on campus or refusing to come to school. See which behaviors they want to get rid of and find replacement behaviors and then reinforce them. Most are one on one support, teach them to keep their hands to themselves, 106

use kind words, stay in appropriate locations, toileting skills, hygiene, transitions from classes.

3.

Outdoor activities – Elementary school age or younger children can fulfil sensory needs through playgrounds but not for older children. They usually have walks or PE classes to either calm themselves down or fulfil sensory needs, special schedules are also made to better accommodate their behavior. Important to provide more physical activities for older children such as punching bags, pulling, lifting and other intense physical input.

4. Most beneficial area needed – Sensory are or sensory room is the most ideal and needed for schools and healthcare or therapy settings. Physical activity area with relaxing and soothing lighting is also beneficial.

Overall, they need a place for sensory breaks.

5.

Potential benefits for inclusion of outdoor spaces – Outside time is good for almost everyone, for older children they can enjoy gardening with teachers and staff. It benefits both the students, allowing them to fulfil sensory needs, and staff, to relax. They can learn and bond in a much better environment.

6. Important aspects to consider when designing for children with special needs – Visual cues are very important. ADA accessible is also important especially for children that might have epilepsy. Do not neglect sensory needs for older children and students, something that is more appropriate and provide them with a good amount of sensory stimulation is also needed.

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SENIOR THESIS

LEARN, PLAY, THRIVE

Design Guidelines and Building Blocks of Therapeutic Gardens for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

WENXI HUANG

1 0 82020 JUNE