For a long time, contact with nature has been used for medicinal and therapeutic purposes. In her master's thesis prepared under the supervision of Dr. Beata Płoszaj-Witkowska, {tag:studenci} of Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie used this feature to help children affected by motor aphasia. The garden she created can positively influence their development and improve their well-being.
The designed therapeutic garden is located at the Special School and Educational Center in Olsztyn. The author paid attention to the importance of garden therapy in working with the youngest children and created a special space designed for children with motor aphasia, a disorder of speech functions. However, these children retain the ability to understand simple sentences, and spending time in a green space tailored to their needs helps therapy progress.
Therapeutic garden for children with motor aphasia
proj.: Daria Hardziej
three zones to stimulate the senses
The garden consists of three zones. The therapeutic and relaxation zone is a place to develop the senses; a sensory path, raised flowerbeds, climbing walls, greenhouses and gazebos contribute to this. Each bed stimulates a different sense, thanks to the planting of a variety of ornamental plants. The functional-spatial zone was designed to create a place of first contact and a positive impression for users, it also serves an aesthetic function. This zone introduces visitors to a harmonious environment that has a soothing effect on their senses. In the recreational zone, on the other hand, users have the opportunity to relax or rest in an active way.
In the design of the garden, the author also included the creation of a new playground with a safe surface. Among the designed objects of small architecture are mainly those intended not only for relaxation, but also for therapy. A complete renewal of the pavement in the area around the center is also planned.
Therapeutic garden for children with motor aphasia
designer: Daria Hardziej
Contact with nature influences the formation of a person's personality. Active participation in this form of rehabilitation has a positive effect on peer relationships, improves memory and reduces stress caused by various diseases. Garden therapy is dedicated to users with different health problems and of different ages, thanks to its wide range and diverse form, so such a garden must be well designed
- explains Daria Hardziej.
An accessible, green and therapeutic garden with a multitude of functions
The key elements of a therapeutic garden, the author pointed out, are:
- accessibility, to ensure comfort and independence in using the environment for all its users
- functionality, resulting from thoughtful design that takes into account social, health, educational and aesthetic functions
- adaptation of the space to the needs of the people to whom it is dedicated
- small architecture, which is intended to support functionality and comfort and be accessible to any group of users
- vegetation, the preceding selection of which promotes various forms of therapy and has a positive effect on stimulating the senses.
Therapeutic garden for children with motor phasia
proj.: Daria Hardziej
The graduate points to the importance of children's contact with nature as an element that supports development, including stimulation of language skills and improvement of motor skills. In turn, the discussion of methods for designing therapeutic space using greenery and vegetation is well grounded in current research and literature on the subject, which demonstrates the reliability of the theoretical approach. The developed design of the therapeutic garden has educational and practical value, and its implementation would certainly bring many benefits in working with children with motor aphasia
- comments the thesis supervisor, Dr. Beata Płoszaj-Witkowska.
The therapeutic garden is a project that, in a simple but thoughtful way, could improve the childhood of children affected by motor aphasia, and at the same time provide inspiration for all public spaces that lack greenery.
