Study of Viewpoints of Autism Children's Parents to Create a Convenient Space for Their Occupational Therapy

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder of nervous system which results in deficiencies in thinking, feeling, emotion, speaking, and social communication abilities. Considering the outbreak of this disorder in Iran, the present study was conducted to predict the construction of specialized educational and therapeutic spaces in the coming years that can be an effective step towards the treatment of autism children.
Material and

In the current descriptive analytical research, a questionnaire was designed by the researcher through a qualitative investigation in existing documents and resources. The questionnaire was also confirmed by 10 proficient occupational therapists in autism and later handed to 19 parents of the suffering children in Autism rehabilitation centers and Specialized Autism Clinic (Zehn-e-Ziba). The questionnaire was designed based on the observations of the sufferers’ parents with the spectrum of slight and intense autism and Asperger’s, relevant to educational, therapeutic, and service spaces.

Considering 15 designed questions, the needs and medical charachteristics of therapeutic spaces for autistic children, such as environmental stimuli, sounds, lights, colors, safety, and health conditions, were stated by autistic children's parents and were investigated accordingly; the results were obtained using the psychological approach of architectural spaces. According to the studies investigated, among the therapy methods, educational methods, such as physical and mental occupational therapy, speech therapy, play therapy, etc., were prevoiusly investigated. The significance and role of using specialized spaces by the architects indicates that the diverse forming of the spaces and construction of details as well as creation of dynamic and diverse spaces are among the effective architectural factors for educating autistic children. Effective elements like color, light, and appriopriate sounds in these spaces must also be considered since they can dramatically influence the performance improvements of autistic children.

According to the researches and field observations, using light colors and avoiding stimulant colors may stimulate or interrupt children’s concentration while education, thus we can create a spectrum of light or use a space as a dark room to strengthen their concentration. This can decrease these children’s stress level, which plays a positive role in their therapy procedure. It can be suggested that architects design flexible spaces contractually with regard to children’s needs so as to help both autistic children and their parents.