When Kristi Gaines began her doctoral work at Texas Tech 15 years ago, she found a dearth of research on how to design spaces for those on the autism spectrum.
"I was interested in the topic. I had seen a lot of children with autism and I knew that the environment could impact their behavior," she explains. "I could see that they were over stimulated at times, but they can also be under stimulated by the environment. There wasn't really much research out there. So, I decided to come back and pursue a phd. I had to choose a research topic and it was immediate I knew what I wanted to study. I didn't even have to give it much thought."
That in turn led Gaines, now a Texas Tech associate professor of interior and environmental design and associate dean of the university’s graduate school, to collaborate with other researchers at Tech and some in other countries to formulate best practices for designing spaces for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. That spectrum includes autism, Asberger’s syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder.
The result is “Designing for Autism Spectrum Disorders.” Gaines said the book was much needed and there was little to build on because the field was so new.
"If you design for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders, it makes it a better environment for everybody. That's what the research shows, but I think one of the important things to note is that you have hypo and hyper sensitivities. So, you can have too much environmental stimuli, or not enough. Neither one of those is good. Prior to a lot of the research that we did, people thought that you just have to remove all of the stimulation, make everything really neutral, plain. But, that also, students will not be engaged in that environment, and they tend to withdraw into themselves."
The book aims to help individuals and family members of those with the disorder, educators, healthcare providers and others. Published in 2016, the information can be utilized in a wide variety of spaces, like living and working environments, as well as recreational and educational locations. And it’s written so that non-academics can understand it.
Two of Gaines’ three co-authors are at Tech. Michelle Pearson is an assistant professor of interior design, and Mesha Kleibrink with Tech’s Facilities, Planning and Construction. Pearson contributed information about health-care environments.
"My dissertation was on health care environments for children," Pearson says. "So, when she was working on the book, it kind of seemed like a good place for me to fit in to add to the health care chapters, or other chapters that touch on some of my current research that I was working on."
The accolades came almost immediately. In 2016 it won an award from the Texas and Oklahoma chapter of the International Interior Design Association. And last year it won awards from the American Society of Interior Designers, the Environmental Design Research Association and the Interior Design Educators Council.
Designing for those on the spectrum is difficult because no two cases are alike as each individual has different symptoms, different sensitivities and a different level of functioning. Symptoms vary from mild to severe; some children on the spectrum have intellectual disabilities or impaired speech, while others do not.
Pearson said one challenge was having four authors working independently on various chapters.
She says, "We all had different writing styles. We all had different areas of expertise, and I think that making it sound cohesive--I think we did it--but it was a challenge throughout."
Gaines said she is hopeful the information in the book, which has 127 images of the spaces designed for those on the spectrum, will be added to by other researchers.
"It's more of a foundational type of research," Gaines says. "A broad overview. There's a lot of practical recommendations, a lot of information in there to apply, but there's still a lot of research to be done. It's really exciting, that's really the purpose in doing it is getting it out there in the hands of whoever can apply the information."
