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Research

Project Spectrum concerns the development of a sensory environment for children on the autistic spectrum. The approach taken is a user centred one, taking the needs of the children as a starting point. The environment addresses the children's sensory requirements and provides a tailorable experience that can accomodate the needs and preferences of a wide range of children.

Following a design research methodology, work on the project can be broken down into three stages of, understand the problem, propose and realize a solution, and evaluate the solution.Taking a user centred approach to the design has necessitated most of the work being focused on the requirements of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and these needs can be addressed through the design of an appropriate environment.

As children with ASD are so variable, such an environment has to be extremely flexible and tailorable. Additionally the team looked at the requirements of other stakeholders – parents/carers who bring the children into the environment and help them engage with it, and teachers.

Although the primary deliverable is a highly configurable environment for use in schools (and other centres), the design and development process undertaken is just as important as this will help us to understand how digital technology can be used to support the engagement and psychological development of autistic children.
Therefore the major deliverables are a set of user requirements for the design of future environments and an evaluation methodology, both of which are based on the needs of the children.

The project’s home is the Design Research Centre, Design Institute, Coventry School of Art and Design. The research team consists of Darryl Georgiou and Andree Woodcock as managers and two Research Assistants – Jacqui Jackson and Alex Woolner.
The project has been funded for three years (2003-2006) by the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council), grant number B/RG/AN9131/APN16454