Interiors for autistic children
Designing an interior collection for autistic children with sensory processing disorders
Children with autism find it difficult to engage with the world around them and parents and carers need to find ways to stimulate their child, whilst providing solutions for their sensory processing disorders. I decided to focus on designing a collection for autistic children with Hypersensitivity and Hyposensitivity within sensory processing disorders and how I could design a product that can help stimulate their senses. Hypersensitivity is when a child is over-responsive to sensory stimuli and Hyposensitivity is when a child is under-responsive and so some sensory interactions go unnoticed. All samples are handwoven and designed to include pockets that contain sensory stimuli as well as tassels and pleats to allow an autistic child to explore their senses. The Hypersensitivity samples had less colour and textures incorporated into the design to avoid a sensory overload. Whereas the Hyposensitivity samples had a lot more colours and textures to provide more sensory stimulations.