Sensory research ,

Autism Sensory Room

James Ward-Sinclair

Ward-Sinclair expresses in his article how within the general public many of us have attempted to try to sit with our thoughts and without warning are interrupted for example by  "the world’s noisiest eater". he continues to state how "In any other circumstance, you turn the other cheek, but something about that exact sound makes it impossible to ignore", to emphasise how overpowering some external stimuli can be for humans.

This is a more occurring feeling amongst autistic people as moderating stimuli can be very overbearing and may cause powerful discomfort. (Ward-Sinclair 2020)

Sensory rooms were designed to temporarily deflect uncomfortable stimuli, they were firstly introduced mainly in the 1970s but they were called Snoezelens.

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This is a installed sensory room with a bubble tube, I like how there is a great contrast of the neon coloured lights against the dark background, and that the objects are inviting for people to touch.

Bibliography

1-Ward-Sinclair, J., 2022. Autism Sensory Room Ideas: Building a Safe Space for Autistic People. [online] Autistic & Unapologetic. Available at: <https://autisticandunapologetic.com/2020/04/12/autism-sensory-room-ideas-building-a-safe-space-for-autistic-people/> [Accessed 21 February 2022].

2-Sensory Technology Ltd. 2022. Sensory Rooms Gallery | Sensory Room Ideas. [online] Available at: <https://www.senteq.co.uk/sensory-room/sensory-rooms-gallery/> [Accessed 23 February 2022].

 Feb tutorial with Mike.

From my tutorial with Mike, we discussed that I need to have a deeper focus on what people will visually see.

Additionally, since I am making therapeutic art I need to really practice what that may look like and what I want it all to really mean.

Another great point was too focus on things or textures that are generally therapeutic amongst many people outside of myself, and to perhaps look at sensory playgrounds designed ,for example, autistic children and people, since they are deeply concentrated in providing a mentally comforting experiences.

 

 circuit screenshot

With a help of a colleague this circuit map was created on simulink to reflect how I would like my components to align together.

They are all connected to one power source, and the 'touch point' where the artefact would be touched is a trigger point. This is represented by the small squares, and there are 6 of them as I may want 6 touchable points that trigger a reaction to the Arduino and bulbs.

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 I used 3, 220ohm resistors , with three LED's and wires connected from the arduino board from the ground, and 13v,12v, and 11v connected to the breadboard adjacent to each Led and resistor. 

Although,  for two resistors I may need to replace them to make the circuit flow throughout more succinctly.

 

I wanted to focus on educative and therapeutic art,

from my research I found a beautiful installation for schrizophenia  in New York, where they also worked with light but also film.(Sharon Howard-Butler and Brit Till.2017)

Overall this is beautiful as well as educative.

I also found this installation for OCD by Madeline Walker.2018

I recently had a tutorial, where I was given more resources as to places and books with more knowledge, and from the diagram above, I decided to have at least 3 or more touch points and therefore I would require more than one Arduino since they can all individually run one programme at a time. (Monk Simon:Programming Arduino: Getting Started with Sketches.2011)
 

I watched a few YouTube videos (listed below),

and I learnt about conductive paint and how it can be used into circuits with touch sensors.

Electricity-Conducting Paint Lets You Paint Switches On Walls. Tech Insider.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd75H9HbYTM

Conductive Paint Touch Switch || Arduino Capacitive Touch Sensor || Part 2. Aatik's lab.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6j3VxvNV5c

I begun drawing diagrams figuring out how I would want to arrange my installation.

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