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Four Ways to Make a Flexible Classroom For ADHD Students
In today’s educational landscape, the crucial role of classroom furniture in student success is becoming more and more prevalent. Traditional classroom setups, with their rigid rows of desks and chairs, can pose significant challenges for students with specific learning needs, especially those with ADHD.
One size does not fit all when it comes to making a flexible classroom. This blog post will discuss how teachers can take their classrooms from the conventional arrangements with rigid furnishings to an active classroom with flexible furnishings to create an inclusive learning environment designed for students to thrive.
1. Promote Movement
Flexible furniture, such as standing desks and wobble chairs, can help meet the movement needs of students with different learning styles. According to an article written by Eden Strong, a neurodiversity and disability specialist, these options allow students to change their positions throughout the day, reducing restlessness and improving focus.
Research has shown that incorporating flexible furniture into the classroom can improve academic performance for ADHD students. MooreCo’s Hierarchy Grow Stools are designed with function and flexibility in mind. With flexible seating and desk configurations like the height adjustable Hierarchy Creator Rectangle Desk + Porcelain Steel Top, ADHD students can find their ideal workspace and enhance their focus.
Creating an active classroom configuration also supports more hands-on learning and activities that ADHD students can engage with.
2. Reduce Distractions
Flexible furniture can be arranged to create more personalized and less distracting learning environments. For example, using partitions or MooreCo’s Desktop Privacy Panel can help minimize visual distractions, while noise-canceling headphones or quiet zones can reduce auditory disruptions. These adjustments can create a more conducive environment for students with ADHD to concentrate and engage with their learning materials.
MooreCo’s customizable Privacy Pods are another option for creating personal space that allow students to enhance focus and minimize distractions. MooreCo’s single and double Privacy Pods are designed to reduce outside stimulation and noise with its noise-reducing upholstery. Look for privacy pods that have curved wall shapes to reduce the most noise and avoid overstimulation for ADHD students.
3. Create Personal Space
By including study nooks and privacy pods, ADHD students can have their own space to retreat when needed. Creating cozy corners in classrooms using flexible furniture and providing personal spaces with soft seating and sensory toys or activities for students to engage with for symptom management can help students focus on learning tasks in the classrooms. In addition, reports state that even modifying seating arrangements by adding distance between desks for maximum privacy can help create an area for personal space.
To reduce tension, go for MooreCo Beanies or check out the wide selection of All Foam Soft Seating to create a cozy place for busy minds to rest and recharge. MooreCo Beanies come in multiple sizes and can be configured for indoor or outdoor classrooms with soft microsuede that helps soothe overstimulation.
4. Maintain Focus
In a study conducted by the Mississippi Association of Educators, researchers found that incorporating visual cues in educational settings is important for students with ADHD, as these cues play a crucial role in enhancing their learning and engagement. ADHD students can struggle with focus, and verbal instructions or lesson plans can become difficult to engage with if there is no visual aid.
Adding on visual aids like Ogee whiteboard tops onto MooreCo’s Compass Cabinet , incorporating the Hierarchy Shapes Desk + Porcelain Steel Top, or offering Porcelain Steel Lapboards as an option into your flexible classroom configuration can supplement visual instruction. Whether it’s for class instruction or for individual student work, MooreCo’s porcelain steel whiteboard add-ons allow students to visualize and create their own learning experience.
All porcelain steel whiteboard tops are also magnetic and can be easily adjusted to fit the needs of ADHD students. Magnetic surfaces have been shown to have many benefits in the role of symptom management for ADHD students. Whether it’s helping with fidgeting, being able to use the surface to organize notes and papers on the desk, or helping with fine motor skills, magnetic surfaces are a simple yet effective add-on to any desk or flexible furniture piece.
Create an ADHD-Friendly Classroom In Less Than 10 Days!
MooreCo has helped several schools successfully implement flexible furniture to accommodate diverse learning needs. MooreCo’s variety of options and add-ons allows you to customize your furniture to fit your school’s needs, and to make a classroom accessible for all students with learning disabilities. With MooreCo’s QuickShip program, furniture pieces can be shipped within 2-10 days.
The QuickShip program offers a variety of products like the Visionary Magnetic Glass Board for visual aid, All Foam Soft Seating that can be used in privacy areas, and the Enroll Tablet Arm Chair that promotes movement in the classroom due to its mobility. Start your school year out the right way, and create a flexible classroom that fits your students’ unique needs. Contact a MooreCo representative today!
Challenges ADHD Students Face in the Classroom
Lack of Movement
Static desks, chairs arranged in neat rows, and strict seating arrangements are all components that can restrict the flow and movement in a classroom—an environment that often hinders students with symptoms of ADHD. According to a study conducted by the Council for Exceptional Children, “All students, especially those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), need movement; it assists them with concentration and provides an outlet for healthy impulse discharge, helping to control impulsivity.”
Implementing a flexible classroom format with seating and desks that allow movement and adaptability in the classroom can foster a learning environment where students with ADHD can succeed.
Sensory Overload
Whether it’s trouble focusing, restlessness, or anxiousness, the way classrooms are arranged, how close students are to pieces of furniture, and more can trigger sensory overload in students with ADHD. Noise, visual, and physical distractions can disturb the learning environment.
Understood, a non-profit that promotes the support of students with thinking and learning disabilities stated in a report that schools should make accommodations in the classroom by using a variety of furniture solutions that accommodate different sensory needs such as wiggle chairs, standing desks, and footrests. In addition, considering increasing the space between desks or work tables can greatly increase focus and concentration for ADHD students.
Lack of Personal Space
Students with ADHD greatly benefit from having personal space for self-regulation when symptoms appear in the workplace. In a traditional classroom, personal space is limited due to confining desk configurations and fitting many furniture student work desks into a limited space. A lack of personal space can trigger symptoms of sensory overload without giving them a private space to self-regulate.
Traditional classroom setups often do not account for the need for personal space. Students with ADHD may benefit from having a designated area where they can retreat to manage overstimulation or regroup when feeling overwhelmed. Without such spaces, these students may find it challenging to self-regulate and stay on task.
Sources
Flexible seating ideas: 6 great wiggle chairs for classroom and home - Reviewed (usatoday.com)
Topics: Human Development, Active Classroom, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Thrive, sensory needs, Special Education, Learning Styles, Educators