Collaborative Research: The impact of daylighting on behavioral response of children with ASD: evidence and implementation strategies for improving learning environments

About This Grant

Daylight and window views provide comfort, health and well-being. However, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often hypersensitive to environmental stimulation, which leads some schools for ASD children to keep windows covered to block natural light and avoid potential distractions. Guidelines for lighting in these schools could help improve the sensory behaviors and health of children with autism. This project will (i) discover evidence linking daylight and behavioral responses in autism educational settings, and (ii) develop and implement guidelines for inclusive indoor environments while harnessing the benefits of natural light for the children. The broader impacts of this project are: (i) to integrate knowledge from different disciplines, train cross-disciplinary students and provide a breakthrough in understanding the impact of daylight on behavioral response of ASD children; (ii) to implement findings in autism educational facilities in collaboration with local teachers and stakeholders; (iii) to create educational materials that motivate teachers, parents and caregivers to establish preventative protocols for outbursts and encourage healthy behaviors for ASD children with respect to daylight; and (iv) raise awareness in the autism community for using natural light to improve the quality of life for children with autism. The project will transform the visual environment design and operation in educational environments for children with ASD. Through a pioneer framework of experimental methods, computational predictive models and evidence-based reverse engineering operation, this research will establish a new paradigm and build the foundation for a universal platform to optimally design and control daylight for this sensitive population. First, a focused experimental study will be conducted with 50 children with ASD in well-designed educational settings under real daylighting conditions. A flexible sensing network will be deployed to monitor and process pixel-wise information of dynamic luminance distributions. At the same time, seven behavioral aspects and sensory profiles will be assessed along with the children’s task performance capabilities. The data will be used in probabilistic and machine-learning-based models, to predict and classify dynamic behavioral responses to daylight-induced stimulation conditions. In turn, a generalized daylight simulation approach coupled with reverse engineering operation and optimization will translate these findings into comprehensive daylighting design and operational guidelines implemented in real autism schools in collaboration with teachers, parents and autism community stakeholders. These engineering designs are expected to refine daylighting best practices for ASD children to improve sensory behavior, minimize outbursts, and provide better everyday life for this population. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.