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Abstract Growing bodies of evidence show sensory integration issues may be at the root of many of the symptoms children with Autism (ASD) exhibit. Sensory integration is defined as the ability to feel, understand, and organize sensory information from the body and environment. The issues surrounding sensory integration are reflected in both hypersensitive and hyposensitive reactions by children with ASD to the vestibular, proprioception, visual, audio, tactile, and olfactory senses. The nature of autism and its characteristics are studied to determine the strengths, deficits, and needs of the autistic child as well as current treatment methodologies in use today including whether these treatments would lend themselves to an outdoor environment The goal of this paper is establishing a set of guidelines for designing a therapeutic garden for autistic children to address the sensory integration issues of children with ASD by creating a sensory garden which would allow them to focus on therapeutic and diagnostic interventions. By using the principles and elements of design, guidelines for this garden focused on producing calming effects for hyper reactive children with ASD and stimulating effects for hypo reactions. |