The Ask Project: Connecting young people with place

Key findings

The following findings have been drawn from the consultation sessions, site visits and interviews with practitioners and specialists.

Sensory mapping

This proved to be an excellent start to the consultation days. The mapping was a good way of getting different people to work together. It also raised awareness of the importance of using all the senses to evaluate and appreciate the outdoor environment and was a good way of identifying what things were most important to different individuals.

Memory books

These proved to be easy and attractive to use by all the children. We found that the stickers increase confidence in responses by negating the need for writing. Disabled children often have to adapt to techniques that have been developed without taking account of their needs and it was important to show how this did not have to be the case – techniques can be designed that all children can engage with. This also made it possible for disabled children to contribute their own thoughts and responses.

One of the questions we needed to address was whether the children would find it interesting to take part in these sessions, or whether they would find it boring. This was fundamental to the underlying premise of the project – that children enjoy spending time outdoors. Reassuringly, it was evident that children found the sessions interesting and enjoyable. The sticker books helped them take note of a lot of detail in the sites – flowers, insects, vegetables, fish, turtles, touch and sound and so on. One of the positive aspects of the sticker books is that they encourage children to slow down and take notice of what is around them.

The techniques encouraged children to explore their environment in ways that engaged all their senses and motivated them to consider their experience of being outdoors, not just what things look like. It is interesting that when non-disabled children were asked to capture their responses through pictorial stickers they tended to select objects – ponds, trees and so on. By contrast, disabled children tended to choose ones that were linked to how they felt – excited, calm, sad, safe and so on. The benefits of experiential learning are well documented by authors like Joseph Campbell. It would appear that one of the values of non-disabled children working with disabled children is in sharing these different approaches to learning.

Design Scrapbooks

This proved a very effective technique for enabling disabled and non-disabled children to work together. The technique is easy to use and accommodates different levels of abilities. For example, children with more severe learning disabilities can create an attractive design with the simple activity of sticking on pictures and symbols whilst some other children were able to annotate their books with text and drawings.

Children and staff responded positively to the opportunity to focus on generating ideas for their own landscape. This gave an important sense of purpose to the activity. From discussions during the sessions we realised how unusual it is for disabled children and children at risk of exclusion to be asked to contribute their creative ideas in this way.

Disposable cameras

The cameras were used with great enthusiasm and it was fascinating to observe what different children decided to photograph. It encouraged the children to look more closely at the environment they were in and stimulated some interesting discussions about why they were choosing to photograph particular features and places.

Benefits to young disabled people

The project gave disabled children the chance to express their opinions in a situation where all the activities were accessible to them. This is something that is rarely available to them. Often, when disabled children are invited to get involved they have to struggle to use techniques that have not been developed with their needs in mind. This can reduce their confidence and limit their involvement to being passive observers. In the Ask sessions the disabled children had a more central role in the activities and the non-disabled children were the ones taking a more collaborative role. Discussions with education staff confirmed the value of such activities in increasing the confidence and feelings of self-worth amongst disabled children.

Increased understanding of diversity

Bringing together disabled children and children at risk of exclusion proved extremely effective. Non-disabled children gained a valuable insight into disability issues and the implications for how disabled children can use and experience the outdoor environment. This was particularly powerful because they were experiencing it first hand. This was valuable to the practitioners who were involved and will enable them to use these experiences to influence future design and management decisions.

Development of skills and awareness

Site/project staff involved in the consultation learnt techniques for improving the design and management of their sites, and gained skills for carrying out further consultation.

Strengthened UK-Japan links

The project has resulted in closer links between UK and Japan, bringing together people interested in finding positive approaches to connecting children with their environment. Landscape designers and education workers learnt new techniques for connecting young people with places and encouraging them to take an interest in the outdoors. A series of conferences and development of guidance materials are sharing the work with practitioners, researchers and education workers.

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