AicE-Bs 2010 ASIA Pacific International Conference on Environment – Behaviour Studies Theme: Children, Youth and Environments

1. The influence of Sensory Gardens on the behaviour of children
with special educational needs
Hazreena Hussein, PhD
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya
reenalambina@um.edu.my
AicE-Bs 2010 ASIA Pacific International Conference on Environment – Behaviour Studies
Theme: Children, Youth and Environments

2. Overview
• WHY?
• WHAT?
• HOW?
• FINDINGS?

3. Introduction
Why bother to study Sensory Gardens?
• Lack of research done on the topic
• Access survey - barriers in the campus
• Interest and PASSION
‘Sensory gardens cannot be designed without
considering the human element. Unlike
traditional display gardens that are meant to
be observed from a distance, sensory gardens
draw the visitor into touch, smell and actively
experience the garden with all senses’
Shoemaker, C.A. (2001:195)
Experience the Sense of Touch and Smell

4. The Initial Study
WHAT is the study all about?
- Preliminary questions
- Preliminary site studies
- Issues and benefits issues and benefits.ppt
- The theory of affordance
- Aim and objectives of the study: To observe and record how users responded to
and engage with the individual behaviour settings in a sensory garden;
investigate the design process and intentions of the landscape architect;
investigate the teachers and therapists’ thoughts and experiences with
reference to the benefits and problems in having the sensory garden; and assess
opportunities for users’ activity in the sensory garden.
‘Every special school has slightly different needs. The sensory garden will reflect
those needs so no sensory garden will be the same. They might have similar
elements but there will always be an emphasis upon the needs of their individual
children’ (Jefferies, K.; 2007)

5. The Research Method
HOW did the researcher approach the data collection?
Research Methodology Process
The research stages on the left side and
the research methods on the right side,
in descending order

6. Case Study: Lyndale Special School, UK
Zone A:
Rainbow Walk
767sq.m Boardwalk, grass, pathway, trees.
Zone B:
Water Garden
223sq.m Boardwalk, interactive fountain with
talking tubes, pond with marginal plants,
slate stone channels.
Zone C:
Green Space
337sq.m Artwork display, covered tunnel, seating,
sloping lawn, musical pipe, pathway,
raised beds with herbs and scented plants,
textured wall.
Zone D:
Woodland
Garden
556sq.m Artwork display, boardwalk with rope
railing, sloping lawn, trees, variety of
sound stimuli.
Zone A: Rainbow Walk
2 senses (8 activities),
2 phy.soc. (8 activities)
Zone B: Water Garden
3 senses (10 activities),
2 phy.soc. (3 activities)
Zone C: Green Space
4 senses (23 activities),
2 phy.soc. (12 activities)
Zone D: Woodland Garden
3 senses (12 activities),
2 phy.soc. (8 activities)

7. The Analysis
1. Zone C (Green Space) afforded users to
engage with the settings, thus spent a
longer time in this zone where, sensory
experience were emphasised.
2. Zone A (Rainbow Walk) recorded the
highest median time spent per user as
teachers used this zone for their
outdoor classroom.
3. Zone B (Water Garden) recorded the
least frequency of sensory affordances
and the lowest median time spend per
user because the sensory experiences
offered there were limited.
Frequencies of sensory stimulation, physical
(mobility) and social skills recorded in the
sensory garden of the Lyndale Special School,
according to the zones

8. Key Findings
• 2 key findings:
1. The layout of pathway and accessibility (highest number of users) SENSORY
2. Sensory value (greater time spend per user)
The study significance and original contribution of knowledge
Important message to landscape architects:
Evidently a full multi-sensory environment that engaged users with the physical
elements, not the visual alone.
The value of a place is not determined by its appearance or aesthetic qualities but
by its physical properties and the different activities that they afford (Gibson,
1979; Whitehouse et al., 2001)
The concept of affordance, and the essential qualities of a children’s natural
environment have been described by Sebba (1991) as ‘children judge the natural
setting not by its aesthetics but by how they interact with the environment’.
TRAIL

9. One morning, a group of teachers and students
with various kinds of impairment were walking
hand in hand, through the sensory garden of the
school to find the perfect tree to do some tree-
rubbing. As they neared a huge shady tree, a
teacher said, ‘Let’s feel this tree’. She placed her
hands on the tree trunk.
A student moved his hands over the bark and slid
his arms around the trunk until they met. His face
was touching the bark and he said, ‘This is the
perfect tree!’ So they all got out their paper and
pencils and started a tree-rubbing activity.
Zone A (Rainbow Walk) of the Lyndale Special School