The Right Environment

[tallship]

Hello, I am Head of Maintenance at a specialist private school which provides education for children with severe dyslexia, dyspraxia or Asperger's Syndrome. My particular interest is in providing the best environment for the children - colour schemes and lighting etc, that will put them most at ease both in the classroom, and, as it a boarding school, in the dorms and common rooms.

 

Opinions seem to vary greatly amongst both educational and medical specialists about the stroboscopic effects of fluorescent lighting for instance. A small proportion of the general population are able to detect the slight flickering of a fluorescent light, a slightly higher proportion of those with ASD are affected. This manifests itself as anything from a vague feeling of unease to a desparate need to get away from the room if it is brightly lit. Despite long research I can find no reference to high frequency fluorescent lighting and ASD, this type of lighting was specifically designed to eliminate visible stroboscopic effect particularly in areas with computer VDUs.

 

Anyone out there with any experience in this area?

 

Having mentioned colour schemes I should also ask if there any shades / colour combinations that have a particularly calming effect, and if there any to avoid?

[Tally]

It's great to hear someone like you asking how you can help, rather than jumping in feet-first saying, "I know what autistics want."

 

Most (probably all) people with autism have sensory issues, but not all are bothered by the flickering of flourescent lighting and computer screens. We are all very different, and there is no one-fits-all answer.

 

Some are greatly troubled by bright lighting, others prefer a well-lit room. Might it be possible to provide darker and brighter areas in the same room? Can the school provide some LCD computer screens for use by those who find the flicker irritating? It may be best to eliminate all flourescent lighting, but then this raises costs.

 

If dormitories are shared, perhaps students could be grouped with people with similar sensory issues, so that the room can be adjusted according to individual needs.

 

As for colours, blues and greens are supposed to be calming, whereas reds and oranges are supposed to be exciting. Plainer colour schemes tend to be better than anything very patterned and busy, as many autistics find the visual stimulation distracting or distressing.

[slaphead]

Hello, I am Head of Maintenance at a specialist private school which provides education for children with severe dyslexia, dyspraxia or Asperger's Syndrome. My particular interest is in providing the best environment for the children - colour schemes and lighting etc, that will put them most at ease both in the classroom, and, as it a boarding school, in the dorms and common rooms.

 

Opinions seem to vary greatly amongst both educational and medical specialists about the stroboscopic effects of fluorescent lighting for instance. A small proportion of the general population are able to detect the slight flickering of a fluorescent light, a slightly higher proportion of those with ASD are affected. This manifests itself as anything from a vague feeling of unease to a desparate need to get away from the room if it is brightly lit. Despite long research I can find no reference to high frequency fluorescent lighting and ASD, this type of lighting was specifically designed to eliminate visible stroboscopic effect particularly in areas with computer VDUs.

 

Anyone out there with any experience in this area?

 

Having mentioned colour schemes I should also ask if there any shades / colour combinations that have a particularly calming effect, and if there any to avoid?

 

My son Barry says that Green is very important and special to him, although he doesn't know (or can't explain) why. He can take or leave other colours and combinations of, but intricate patterns can make him uneasy, whereas simple patterns (eg. rows of footballs/Man Utd badges or any other small-ish images on a plain background) tend to calm him somehow. Obviously, he does support MUFC, despite my best efforts to get him to support Sunderland, (MY God - the stick he's given me this season!), and as we are a footballing family, I used the badges and footballs as an example almost automatically. There is no significance related to the shape of the images in patterns that calm him.

Perhaps you could ask your pupils if they have a special colour or shading/lighting effect?

Barry is absolutely petrified of darkness and heavily shadowed areas make him very jittery, although very bright lighting upsets him a little too.

 

Tim.

[jen]

Our SSS support service now go into the classroom to complete a sensory audit. Would you like me to see if I can get details.

 

 

My son has several sensory issues and receives OT every week. A calming room is a good idea. Some where to go when the children are overloaded. Its just a small area with filter lighting and soothing cushions. No pictures on the wall or lots of furniture.

 

Some child like to work under a desk when they get sensory overload obviously this reduces the amount of light, acts as a barrier for protection for the children. The children are lying down so they do not have to use effort to support theire.

 

Carol Kranowich is doing a 2 day talk in Birmingham she is the author of the out of sync child. Here you would find the information off the expert herself.

 

Jen

[Ian Jordan]

happy to send a simple e book no charge on this one.

It will be published in the next three months if people prefer to pay.

 

Subject is VERY complex and way beyond layman.

send me a message

 

PS The support of Sunderland indicates great taste, staying power and discrimination of the highest level.

Edited April 1, 2006 by Ian Jordan

[Brook]

Hi tallship,

 

I dont know if you could find any useful info in the following link, you have to scroll down a bit.

 

http://asumag.com/mag/university_eliminating_distractions/

 

Brook

[Suze]

Hello and welcome, it is very reassuring to know that people in your position know and are willing to help children who suffer in this way.My son is acutely aware of computer noise and flickering lights, he is also aware of smells, people who smoke and that stale hair smell

[tallship]

Blimey! Where to start, that's the question. One at a time I suppose so here goes........

 

Hello Tally, to be fair only a few of our students are Asbergic (is that a proper term?), the majority are dyslexic and/or dyspraxic with lesser sensory issues. All of the rooms within the school have fairly plain decor although some have quite strong colours. I recently redecorated the senior boarding house common room because all of the boarders hated it. Previous boarders had been allowed to choose thier own colour scheme which consisted of a Post Office Red ceiling, mid blue walls and bright orange doors/doorframes/skirting. Sometimes it's better not to offer choice! Our I.T. Suite (complete with interactive whiteboard) has only LCD monitors. This coming week I will be ripping out the fluorescent lighting I installed last half term in my ignorance thinking I was doing something really helpful!

 

Hi slaphead. Now listen here, I was born in Leeds so any further mention of MUFC will not be tolerated, see? I started at the school last August and it didn't take me long to realise that most of the students have a distinct averion to designs with jagged lines and clashing colours. Highly reflective surfaces aren't popular either, all sources of glare appear to be universally unpopular to a greater or lesser degree.

 

Hello jen, I've just managed to get to grips with what a SENCO is / does, what the devil is an SSS? Yes I'd be interested in details of a sensory audit although I rather suspect that such things will be outside my remit and probably beyond my ken. I'm the guy that takes the paper design and makes it happen. Because I'm an experienced electrician and maintenance engineer I'm more qualified in very narrow band of knowledge than other staff. Most of the time I just do as I'm told.....

I'm afraid I'm a long way from Birmingham!

 

Hello Ian, I'll be in touch shortly.

 

Hello Brook, I spent a while reading through the link and I've copied the text so I can print it later and study it in more detail. Thanks for that.

 

Hello Suze, as it happens no one has ever mentioned sesitivity to computer noise to me before. On reflection all of the PCs at the school are pretty quiet (in comparison to mine anyway) so perhaps our machines were built to a particular spec.

 

Thanks to all for the replies, much appreciated.

 

Pete.

[sue1957]

Hi Tallship,

 

Well I hope your budget is a bit bigger than mine but I?ll give you some of the ideas I have been using in my own therapy room, and the group of therapists I work with has given to parents/school staff/respite staff etc for children with ADD/ADHD/AS. They also form part of an overall plan for a very small respite centre we are planning (we now have a very small house, and next its finding the time to get on with the form filling, find the staff, finish the work etc etc. Anyway this centre will include attention to other sensory issues, nutrition, stress management for children/carers, complementary therapy etc, and we?re about to apply for funding so that we can offer some treatments and the training workshops free so that its available to more people).

 

Anyway whatever scheme we came up with needed to be completely flexible, and in our case CHEAP!

 

The basics ARE cheap. If we go on to get funding for expensive equipment then that?s a bonus, but it is the basics that are important.

 

We work on the principle that any individual?s needs change. What might be right this moment, may be wrong the next, or this afternoon, or tomorrow. (So you working on a group scheme is even more challenging!) We will be working with different people on different days, so it has to be completely flexible.

 

For us the basics are: white matt paint for all walls and ceilings. Everywhere. Keep walls as clear as possible of ?stuff.? If you need display areas keep them to a minimum. The rooms should be unstimulating. A blank canvas. The matt paint, not silk is important to minimise glare.

 

We use full spectrum lighting, which gives a much better balance of light, and is less visually stressful to most. This is not the SAD lighting (which also has intensity as well as range of colour, and would not be suitable for use later in the day, as it could prevent sleep).

 

(I can look out a couple of ISBNs of books, or an online article, but they are general light therapy or colour therapy books that happen to mention using FS lighting in classrooms, and its benefits to those with reading difficulties etc. FS lighting is very generally available now for anyone wanting to use them at home).

 

Make the rooms very blank, very white, avoid shine. Although white is impractical for carpets, chairs etc they should be as neutral as possible, ie wooden flooring or bland carpets, no bright colours, or heavy patterns.

 

The room can be used like this (well lit, less distractions when trying to say follow a normal lesson) or you can temporarily add colour for a specific purpose. The best way is to have an easily adaptable lighting system installed. In my therapy room (which is painted matt white) I use stage lights, and have a range of coloured filters that I can use to suit. I have a range of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, plus a couple of mixed shades that I frequently might use, (such as turquoise and lemon) or I can make anything I like by slotting in 2 filters together. I can tone down bright colours with special filters. (At home anyone could just use coloured bulbs if they need to create say a calming space for a while). You probably wouldn?t need anything like the range I have, (some I rarely use) and there are probably some much fancier systems available, which might be much more suited to a classroom. Anyway with a blank room and the ability to add some colour you could use the colours that most suit the group for the task or activity, but in the event of only one child using the room, you could use the colour that suits the one child for whatever the reason. (For example if a child finds blue relaxing, then say a counselling session might be appropriate in a room lit in blue). If you paint walls in any colour, you won?t have this flexibility. (Also find what colour, if any, an individual child HATES. If the colour orange makes someone nauseous you need to know about it!)

 

Even if its plain white areas, it needn?t be clinical. You could bring in a few plants. In large areas you can get big canvasses and paint them in muted single colours (matt emulsion) for a large modern art piece that adds interest but doesn?t overpower the space. (In the home, in a small bedroom use small canvasses, or cardboard, and the art can suit the individual child, e.g. use 2 colours, circles, squares whatever, or just put up a couple of favourite pictures or posters).

 

Even with a blank room and a low budget this can be really valuable, and any additional money you have could be used for introducing other things that would perhaps assist with other sensory problems. Depends on your priorities.

 

Another idea is to use blackout blinds or curtains for certain activities, without the overhead lights on. This creates a dark, blank room, instead of a light one. Then use the colour of your choice to give light to the darkened room. Perhaps blue, or whatever. This will give a completely different sensory experience, and might be relaxing and suitable for say listening tasks, thinking time, relaxation, meditation, eating, sleeping. Using a single colour like this, the idea is that by reducing visual stimulation, you may be able to bring in more auditory, or tactile stimulation. Or in a dining area, they may be able to cope with the smell of food for example because their visual sense won?t be so overloaded.

 

When it comes to sensory stimulation, if you start with nothing its easy to add. If you start with everything, it?s often not so easy to take away.

 

Although it is better to go to sleep without a light on, if someone is afraid of going to sleep in complete darkness, then the right gentle colour in a darkened room might be more helpful than leaving the main lights on in a room. If the room is being shared, then a directionally pointed low wattage coloured light might make a difference to one child, without disturbing everyone else very much. Again if a child changes dorms then the bulb can be changed to suit the next child using the space.

 

Bring colour into a space for example things like cushions in different fabrics, in different colours, which can give tactile and visual stimulation, in small doses, but can be easily removed if a problem, whereas with a coloured wall you can?t, and you will be more likely to have to remove the child. (For a family the cushions might be in the favourite football team colour, Thomas the Tank or whatever, but the principle is the same ? they are easy to remove or bring back during a time of stress, and can be easily changed as circumstances alter). Although for things like general laundry you would need the same colour sheets, items that need less frequent cleaning could, in terms of colour, be more individually suited such as a bed cover, a rug by the bed etc.

 

In a classroom, each individual child could have a mat on their desk, which suits them visually. For example instead of looking at a book or a piece of work set against a shiny desk, it would be set against a muted colour mat, that suits them as an individual. You don?t have to use expensive mats, a piece of card from an art shop will do. Or a mat covered with a piece of coloured felt or something silky could offer tactile stimulation or reassurance as well. (Might be useful for a family i.e. a simple thing you could ask any school to do. Or for doing homework).

 

Before spending lots of money, you could get a couple of stage lights and some filters, and a blackout blind (Argos do them) and white matt paint, and a full spectrum overhead light fitting. Just experiment with one room and see how it goes.

 

Good luck with your project. If you are not too far from me, I'd love a nose at what someone with a bigger budget than ours can do.

[Ian Jordan]

For once an amateur that gets it basically right!

Well done!

 

However there is much more that can be done and it is critical for some children to get it EXACTLY right.

The trick is knowing when it is acceptable to use a basic method and when it is necessary to get it at a higher level of accuracy. This can be done with very specialised lighting (which can be hideously expensive) or by using lenses in conjunction with lighting. It is unlikely that you can get the right colour using filters (regardless of how many you have) unless you understand colour space, metamerism and assess the child for an accurate colour envelope. A matt room is good, reflectance remittance and absorbstion all play a part in colour determination. Flicker can be introduced by task or environment as well as by the light. Full spectrum lighting is only good in a proportion of children and is unlikely to be "unspiked". Peripheral effects need to be determined relative to central vision effects in some children.

 

The question is when you don't get it right using simple methods - how do you know? - and then what do you do?

And how do you know you cannot make a big difference rather than a small difference by giving an accurate light.

[Jill]

Tallship

 

I just wanted to say that I think you are brill. If you ever consider moving to Derbyshire, let me know because I want to snaffle you for my son's school

 

Slaphead - you think you've got it tough, you want to try being a Chesterfield supporter

[sue1957]

For once an amateur that gets it basically right!

Well done!

 

However there is much more that can be done and it is critical for some children to get it EXACTLY right.

The trick is knowing when it is acceptable to use a basic method and when it is necessary to get it at a higher level of accuracy. This can be done with very specialised lighting (which can be hideously expensive) or by using lenses in conjunction with lighting. It is unlikely that you can get the right colour using filters (regardless of how many you have) unless you understand colour space, metamerism and assess the child for an accurate colour envelope. A matt room is good, reflectance remittance and absorbstion all play a part in colour determination. Flicker can be introduced by task or environment as well as by the light. Full spectrum lighting is only good in a proportion of children and is unlikely to be "unspiked". Peripheral effects need to be determined relative to central vision effects in some children.

 

The question is when you don't get it right using simple methods - how do you know? - and then what do you do?

And how do you know you cannot make a big difference rather than a small difference by giving an accurate light.

 

 

Hopefully Tallship has a better budget, but unfortunately, with our budget the trick is doing anything at all. A basic method has to be acceptable because we don?t have another choice, and whatever else that can be achieved for an individual child using the space is a bonus. With a minimal budget, exact for each child isn?t going to be an option. Its part of a general stress management plan, using light and colour as simple tools, being done in conjunction with other things like a non-toxic environment, such as no chemicals, staff not using perfumes etc, attention to electromagnetic pollution, controlling noise, diet etc. At best it can help give the child a sensory break, and give a family a chance to explore options they might not know about. It?s about giving parents a break, and perhaps some complementary therapy themselves in as stress free an environment as possible. If a family has access to something better, then they won't be interested, and we are under no illusions that what we are offering is going to be perfect.

 

Yes the full spectrum lighting we use may not be the best available, but its a straight choice between using it or not, or saving up and getting better and in the meantime doing nothing. Even if we only make a small difference, it opens up the possibilities that in the future someone who specialises like you do could do a lot more than we can, or other funding opportunities may come up.

 

We can?t worry about how we will know we cannot make a big difference rather than a small difference by giving an accurate light. At the end of the day, if we haven't got the money, we can't spend it. But we can always dream.

[redberry]

happy to send a simple e book no charge on this one.

It will be published in the next three months if people prefer to pay.

 

Subject is VERY complex and way beyond layman.

send me a message

 

PS The support of Sunderland indicates great taste, staying power and discrimination of the highest level.

 

HAWAY!!! Marra!

Ahm reet chuffed that a fellow Sunderland supporter is part of this forum like.

Thats reet canny.

redberry

[tallship]

I installed the lighting in a new IT suite today. In the end financial constraints won the day so it's half a dozen triple head halogen units used as semi - uplighters. Not ideal but they're not fluorescent and the indirect light is quite soft and inviting.

 

Over the next couple of days I'll fit the power sockets and network sockets back to a patchbay and hub / switch into the main server. That'll be me done for another term then while the powers that be dream up another project.

 

*Moan of the Day* - After driving me insane to ensure the new IT suite will be completed for the new term, I was told today that the new desks are now on a five week back order......

 

Ho - Hum!

[Lucas]

I'm currently unable to play a game on my PC because the options menu won't let me change the refresh rate on the displayed monitor image. Every other game and Windows desktop I have set to 75hz, any lower and my eyes hurt awfully. I've explained this to the developer's technical support person and they're working on it.

[Canopus]

Does anybody remember those mercury street lights with a blueish-green glow? What did you think of them?

[Guest hallyscomet]

Hi Tallship,

 

Good luck with this, I would love to hear what the outcomes are, like what colours are recommended.

 

I know for the home pale blues and very light pastel greens are very calming and soothing, but somewhere I heard also that white was good too, even if only one wall for concentration. White seemed important not to send our kids into a deep relaxed state, which I believe the blues and greens can do.

 

When my son was in preschool for a whole week they were discovering colours and they had a colour theme for everyday, and I remember the teacher saying when they got to the warm colour of red all the kids were totally hypo that day, it seemed to cause meltdowns and everything. So avoid red.

 

Good luck with this.

 

H.

Edited April 25, 2006 by hallyscomet