| Children With Autism Activities | | | | children with ADHD stay attentive. |
| When designing a playground to include children with | | | | 3. The safety surfacing must meet or exceed all |
| autism, you must understand that there is a spectrum | | | | guidelines. Children, who do not feel their senses |
| of severity and every child is different. Some children | | | | strongly, may want to climb as high as they can go |
| have a more moderate type of autism, while others | | | | and jump off. The intense fall enables them to feel the |
| will have more severe symptoms. There are other | | | | impact. They may not recognize the danger so it is |
| diagnoses on the spectrum, most commonly | | | | important that the safety surfacing material is |
| Asperger's Disorder and Pervasive Developmental | | | | maintained on a regular basis. |
| Disorder. Some researchers even put ADHD and | | | | 4. There should be quiet areas where a child may go |
| ADD on the spectrum. Despite the differences along | | | | to regroup when she is over stimulated. This quiet area |
| the spectrum, there are common symptoms between | | | | can be made through landscaping or the use of |
| people with autism and one of those is that 95% of | | | | playground equipment, such as a playhouse. |
| people diagnosed on the spectrum have Sensory | | | | 5. The playground equipment should be spaced a little |
| Processing Disorders. | | | | further apart enabling the child to play without touching |
| Dr. A. Jean Ayres is generally credited with developing | | | | or being touched by another child. Children With Autism |
| both a theory of sensory integration dysfunction, now | | | | Activities |
| called Sensory Processing Disorder, and the | | | | 6. There should be playground equipment that swings, |
| therapeutic interventions for children who have it. Her | | | | goes around in circles, and enables children to climb |
| work emphasizes the importance of three of the | | | | and jump. These activities help children with both their |
| senses: tactile (the sense of touch), vestibular (the | | | | vestibular and proprioceptive systems. |
| sense of movement and gravity), and proprioceptive | | | | 7. There should be equipment such as monkey bars |
| (the sense of how our body works (muscle and joint | | | | where a child can hang. This puts pressure on their |
| information). | | | | muscles and joints and helps to develop the |
| People with Sensory Processing Disorders maybe | | | | proprioceptive system. |
| hyper-responsive to sensory input meaning they | | | | 8. Parents who are raising children with autism often |
| overreact. While other people maybe hypo-responsive | | | | talk about how much their children like to slide, so it is |
| to sensory input meaning they under-react. In many | | | | important to keep slides in your playground. You might |
| people it is a combination of both. This leads us to the | | | | want to include different types of slides since different |
| fact that every child is an individual. Therefore, just like | | | | types of slides often provide different sensory input. |
| every other child, children with autism react differently | | | | 9. For tactile input, sand and water activities work well. |
| and enjoy different activities on the playground. | | | | You might want to include a very large sandbox, |
| However, we can take some information about the | | | | where a child could cover himself with sand. The |
| three senses talked about above and make some | | | | weight of the sand will calm some children. |
| general observations of what should go into a | | | | 10. There should be play activities that the child can do |
| playground that actively welcomes children with autism. | | | | by himself, while keeping out of the major line of traffic. |
| Children With Autism Activities | | | | Play panels such as tic-tac -toe, or a marble maze, |
| 1. The playground should be fenced so that when a | | | | often can meet this need. |
| child feels the need to flee from over-stimulation, he | | | | 11. Children with autism often need to work on where |
| isn't able to leave the area. | | | | their body is in space. Crawling through tunnels is a |
| 2. The playground should include nature: gardens, | | | | good activity for this. It may be important to have |
| grassy areas, trees, etc. Recent studies from | | | | windows in the tunnels for the caregiver to watch and |
| University of Illinois found that a walk in nature helps | | | | provide assistance if needed. |