PORTAGE, MI Double-layered drywall designed to withstand pounding fists, resilient flooring and tamper-proof screws are some features of the recently completed Great Lakes Center for Autism Treatment and Research at 9616 Portage Road.
We are using architecture to reduce behavior problems or the impact of them, said Wayne Fuqua, a professor and chairman of Western Michigan University's Department of Psychology. Most people dont think about design helping behavior, but we did.
Residential Opportunities Inc. and WMU began a $1.7 million renovation project on the 18,500-square-foot former Moose Lodge building purchased for $675,000 in January. The building is now a home, a school, a doctors office and a training ground for people who live with or treat autism and other behavioral disorders, such as cerebral palsy and Down syndrome.
Were expecting to see the toughest kids, said Director Lloyd Peterson. If there are kids of equal need coming from Michigan and another state, we will take the Michigan child first. Its for Michiganders and will give those residents first preference.
Peterson said the center hopes to help identify and reduce problematic behaviors in the residents who live in the center so they can better integrate with the community, many of whom will be eased into their local school district.
The center includes a residential wing of three pods, each containing four bedrooms for residents who will live at the center for six to 18 months and have the most severe behavior problems. The residential wing also includes two classrooms, a physical activity room, a laundry room, four offices, a teaching kitchen, a dining hall, an emergency physicians room, a living room area and access to a fenced, outdoor play area.
Residents taking classes in the teaching kitchen can help cook and adjust so they can learn how to cook, CSM Group Project Manager Amanda Mason said. The structure was here but we gutted everything except four walls.
Safe rooms, with padded walls and one-way mirrors, will be used to help doctors evaluate how to treat the most self-destructive children. The rooms are equipped with microphones and headpieces, which will allow observing doctors to give parents or graduate students directions on how to interact with a child.
When a child throws a tantrum, there is a reason, ROI chief executive Scott Schrum said. Self-destructive behaviors can be monitored in a safe environment in the safe rooms and you can observe and assess that safely.
The opposite wing of the building is designed to work like a doctors office for autism and behavior-disorder cases for hundreds of patients. The center will also run an additional daytime intensive early-prevention program for children with autism out of a location on Cork Street.
Originally posted here:
New autism treatment center in Portage unveiled; first residents to move in late August