Learning Environments for Children with Autism - End of Year Report, July 07

The aim of the Learning Environments research project is to develop an environment which provides optimal support towards meeting the needs of children with profound autistic spectrum disorder in order to assist them in engaging as effective learners. The project began in October 2006, and is intended to run for 3 years. To date, the small amount of research surrounding the idea of providing optimum environments for those with profound autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) has focused on living environments (Whitehurst, 2006; Beaver, 2003 and 2006; Humphreys, 2005; Plimley, 2004), rather than learning environments. An initial review of this literature has indicated that there are three main avenues to focus on when developing optimal learning environments for children with profound ASD. These are the physical environment, the pedagogy and related resources utilised to teach lessons and structure classroom activities, and the teaching staff.