Autistic building

Awhile back I read an article about building a new school in the Chicago area that was to be designed around the sensitivities of Autistic kids. I have heard no more since I read the original article and have been unable to find it again.

If memory serves me correctly they were going to use alternative lighting instead of florescent, higher windows so the kids could not see the activity on the street, Strategically place sound dampening materials. Among other things.

Am I freaking out?? Did this happen and if so are there any follow up info on the effect of the improvements?? And if there was a measured benefit shouldn't that be presented to other special needs classrooms?

Hi bssage.

I couldn't find anything specific on the project you were asking about, but I did find, just by a Google search, that there are architects out there who actually design buildings to be ASD-friendly. See, for example, this company in London: http://www.autism-architects.com/services.shtml

They actually had written a document about making buildings ASD-friendly: http://www.autism-architects.com/storage/02.Jan2010TheAutismFileAutismFriendlyEnvironments.pdf

Here is another story about how the MIND Institute, an autism research center, took care in designing their facility so it would be ASD-friendly: http://www.interiordesign.net/id_article/CA340930/id?section=News

You are so right that it is important to catalog and learn what environments are most helpful to individuals on the autism spectrum. It looks like this is beginning to occur.