Autism is now becoming a familiar condition in our country. The total number of autistic children is increasing day by day. According to Ministry of Social Welfare, the total number of persons with ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disorders) could be as high as 1.4 million. In such dire circumstances we must think out of the box about the treatment of autistic children. Sensory Park or sensory garden is the natural treatment for autism children. This article will help to know about how sensory park help special children.
The word "autism," which has been in use for about 100 years, comes from the Greek word "autos," meaning "self." The term describes conditions in which a person is removed from social interaction -hence, an isolated self. Autistic children have their own world.
Sensory integration is defined as the ability to feel, understand, and organize sensory information from the body and environment.  The issues surrounding sensory integration are reflected in both hypersensitive and hyposensitive reactions by children with ASD to the vestibular, proprioception, visual, audio, tactile, and olfactory senses.
The main problem of autism is the sensory processing disorder. That time their sensory system does not work appropriately. That’s why they show different abnormal behavior. Sensory describes something relating to sensation — something that you feel with your physical senses. When we grasp a lemon we can realize that it is a lemon by seeing, touching, smelling and sometimes by taste. So, here tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste) and visual senses are helping us to identify the lemon. This identifying process is organized by our brain. When this processing has difficulties then children may show unusual behavior.
A Sensory Park may help to facilitate the normal development of sensory system. We have 8 senses in human body.
Tactile (Touch): The tactile sense is received through millions of nerve ending on the skin, detecting even the slightest touch sensations and reporting it to the brain.      
Olfactory (Smell):   The sense of smell is detecting the appropriate smell.    
Visual (Vision): It is the sense of seeing and recognizing objects.     
Gastatory (Taste): It is the ability to identify different flavors by tasting.      
Auditory (Sound):  It detects noise in a way that will not affect them greatly in daily life.  
Vestibular:   the vestibular sense is responsible for detecting or movement through space, and the position of our head.
Proprioception: Proprioception is the sense responsible for letting us know when and how far we stretch our muscles.
Interoceptors: It is the sense responsible for detecting internal regulation responses, such as respiration, hunger, heart rate, and the need for digestive elimination.
Children and the nature
Robin Moore says: “Children live through their senses.  Sensory experiences link the child’s exterior world with their interior, hidden, affective world.  Since the natural environment is the principal source of sensory stimulation, freedom to explore and play in an outdoor environment through the senses in their own space and time is essential for healthy development of an interior life…” (Moore as appears in Louv 2005, 65).  The concern for educators, parents, and therapists lies in both the shrinking natural play areas available for children and the modern trend of children to stay indoors in spite of the harmful rise of obesity, ADHD, and depression (Louv 2005).  This trend can be attributed to the advent of the technical world of television, computers, and games.  However, at its basis lies both a lack of understanding by parents of the important benefits of the natural world to childhood development and the modern societal fears of safety and well being.  
Importance of sensory garden
As more and more children are diagnosed with ASD, the need for a sensory garden designed specifically for their use and based on the research in the preceding sections seems appropriate.  General guidelines for developing this garden are found in the sensory integrative issues of ASD and include the need for a stimulating space for hypo reactive children and a calming space for children that are hyper reactive.  Accepting that simply being in a natural setting promotes general health and well being, a garden setting is appropriate and would allow children with ASD to experience and explore nature while finding specific areas which simply feel good for them to be in.
Design of the Sensory Park
According to space and necessity there are different types of design. But the sensory park or sensory garden should be designed with carefully and in accordance to international measurements and regulations. Only qualified occupational therapists are trained for this type of measurement.
In our country, we have many natural parks.
If we allocate some space for sensory garden then it will be more helpful in facilitating the natural treatment for autistic children. Therefore city corporations, government officials and GO NGOs must take necessary steps for the allocation of funds and infrastructure in order to design Sensory Parks.