Please help me out by designing your child's ideal home!

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Hi! I work for a disability services agency and my particular program is a construction company specializing in home accessibility and safety. Primarily, we work with the elderly and younger persons with disabilities, renovating bathrooms for wheelchair accessibility and building ramps, etc.

As someone with Asperger's, though, I think persons on the Spectrum are very underserved as far as home modifications go and have wanted to start serving this population more. Unfortunately, there are not many companies doing this and there is little available in the way of concrete design guidelines. My boss expressed an interest in meeting with me to discuss moving towards creating some, however.

I have a number of ideas for possible modifications to help with safety and sensory needs, but there is so much diversity on the Spectrum that I would really like input from others, as well. Personally, my main issue is with acoustics and noise from neighbors driving me crazy, since many builders don't adequately insulate apartment buildings in order to save cost. I am also smell-sensitive and need to live in a place with adequate ventilation.

I know others are also effected by lighting, as well, and that the layout and colors of living spaces can have a bearing on someone's anxiety levels and behavior. Also, for children who have the tendency to wander from home, a door alarm system can be good for families.

What types of modifications have you done for your child? What types of modifications would you like to do, if you had the financial resources? Or, what sensory and behavioral issues does your child have that could potentially be helped through a home mod? Thanks for your comments and suggestions; I am sure they will be helpful.

Do you only want input from parents, or from Aspies, too?

Both please! I also started a similar thread on the General Autism Discussion Forum, too, that was intended more for aspies themselves. In hindsight, I hope that is not confusing for people.

A good, long and safe pacing run not too far removed from the rest of the family would be wonderful for my son. Furniture safe to climb on and bump into. Rounded corners because he loves to bump around; lamps et al well secured and mostly built in because he is a compulsive fiddler.

Honestly I moved frequently as a child and I don't recall ever having any issues with any of the houses as far as AS goes.

As a child though, I was under the opinion that all houses should have at least 4 things.

1. Secret passages.
2. Balconies.
3. An easy way up on to the roof.
4. A good climbing tree.

If they had a pool/jacuzzi that was a plus. I also thought walk in closets and attics were nice and wanted a basement but we generally don't have those here.

Some houses had two kitchens. One upstairs and one downstairs, which I thought was neat.

If my daughter could design one it would be:

one bedroom everyone sleeps in together

everything chewable-because she'll chew on everything anyway

organic cotton textiles-because anything else is too scratchy and flares her eczema

padded walls-because in a meltdown she might just knock a hole in one

lots of sensory items-putty, squish balls, lava lamps, deep pressure blankets or pads

tv/computer in every room

dim natural/incandescent lighting

furniture you can stand on and jump on

hand held shower wands with adjustable flow for bathing

very minimal, no pictures on walls or clutter on shelves (she made me take all the magnets off the refrigerator because they bugged her )

a very large surface for her art projects

pets she could play with when she wanted but that would "go away" when she wanted them to

One big room like a gymnasium for running and having a bunch of stuff like a system of tubes and caves and swings and a bounce house!

No need for a bed.

Oh and a pool.

We have actually modified our living room for our kids (8 year old Aspie & 5 year old Autie). We dont typically watch TV and we dont have many "guests" (Im an Aspie as well). We have a swing, a large trampoline with a net, a few balance balls & a Rody(inflatable bouncy horse), an inflatable cloth covered ladybug, floor scooters, and lots of blankets and pillows on our sofa bed that remains open. My kids are sensory seekers. We also have our IMac in the living room for the kids, my husband and I both have laptops. We are also lucky to have a long hallway where my Autie daughter can run up and down because thats just her thing every night. We are going to build a house in the next few years and I have already started planning things. I want to put bubble, water lamps in my kids rooms for starters and they can both have their own swings. I also want to make my daughter a sensory wall with different tactile dealies hanging from it.
I think a big part of what keeps my kids centered and happy is the fact that they have these things available to them.

I'm also curious, is anyone familiar with Snoezelen-style sensory rooms? What are your thoughts on these? To me, they sound very cool, but I have never been in one or even seen one myself.

If you aren't familiar with them, please see here:

http://snoezeleninfo.com/whatIsSnoezelen.asp

Ive seen sensory rooms like on the site but Ive never been to them. I know my daughter would love the bubble lamps because my Mom used to have a light like that with plastic fish inside and she loved that. The only problem was if she pushed on it or hugged it, it would tip over or spill. Ive been looking into trying to find a way to make them myself as they are terrible expensive if you buy from one of these sensory places. Also you can get fiber optic lights cheaper if you buy from manufacturers. I think every child and adult that could benefit from the sensory room should be able to have one but they are so expensive that most people are turned off by the idea. You can build some of this stuff yourself. Like take our indoor swing for example. If we bought it at a "autistic" or "sensory" store it would have cost us a few hundred dollars but we got ours for twenty dollars at IKEA. I would like to have a plank type swing and that would be easy enough to make myself.
Thanks for posting the site I enjoyed the video, that was an awesome ball pit! This is all making me get even more excited about building our house .

My 2 cents...

1. Every light should have a dimmer
2. No fluorescent lighting anywhere
3. At least one room with a big enough window overlooking a yard or green area (something relaxing to look at)
4. At least one big spa type bathtub
5. Beiges, light blues, greens on cabinets, walls, flooring, etc...
6. Very SOFT carpeting if any carpeting in the home
7. No mirrored closet doors...keep mirrors to a minimum
8. laundry as far away from living areas as possible (reduce noise to living areas)
9. easy open windows to let fresh air in...need locking mechanism that is easy for adults to open/close
10. alarm system to warn if doors/windows are opened...which should include warning for bedroom doors if needed for small children that can walk out of room and roam the house while parents sleep
11. would rather have LESS bathrooms with at least one very big and comfortable bathroom vs. more tiny bathrooms
12. fingerprint locks to open doors from INSIDE of the house (my son took off every lock in our house and would walk out)
13. some type of water feature built in would be great
14. enough insulation to avoid all outside/inside noise between most rooms

well, that's 14 cents worth of stuff...

Definitely LED lights.

However large the bathrooms get, sink and toilet have to be right next to each other. But big enough for clean tables to set the stuff you carry everywhere would be nice.