4.4.2. Interview with Child Development Expert

Temple Gradin, Tamara Daley, Eric Schopler and the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. Possible directions for the research were also discussed at this stage.

4.4.2. Interview with Child Development Expert

An unstructured interview was conducted with Professor Vinita Bhargava from the Department of Human Development and Childhood Studies (HDCS) at Lady Irwin College, New Delhi. This interview was conducted during the literature review stage to help get a better understanding of the specific developmental requirements for an autistic child and also get an idea about the learning process for autistic students.

The state of policies related to the education of autistic children was discussed. It was noted that these policies mainly suggested medical models and were not really prescriptive in terms of the physical environment for learning. As a result, it becomes important to reinforce the importance of the learning environment in the learning process.

In order to ensure ‘responsive caregiving’, one must ensure that the physical environment has been taken into account. Responsive dialogue with a child can only be established once the teacher creates a safe emotional environment, which in turn leads us back to the physical environment. Understanding this relationship is integral.

The nature of play spaces and escape spaces in these institutions was also discussed. There have to be spaces/mechanisms planned for a child’s stimming purposes. Stimming helps calm down children who run the risk of getting overstimulated and overwhelmed. Spaces also have to be kept aside for ‘Free Play’, where teachers must remain alert and observe how children approach different objects and situations. This will help teachers understand the children better and in turn will help them devise effective learning strategies for each student. It became clear from our discussions that there were many particular aspects of the physical and sensory environment that were