In part one of our series on thoughtful classroom design, we heard an educator’s perspective on basic design principles to benefit all learners. For part two, we’re speaking with occupational therapist Rana Alcocer to get some real-life observations on how kids interact with the school environment.
Insight for Stakeholders
Alcocer, who has 25 years of classroom experience working with children with special needs, is an expert in challenges faced by children who have sensory processing disorder (SPD). Kids with SPD exhibit both under- and over-responsiveness to sensory input, manifesting in a spectrum of hyper- and hypoactivity. A helpful way to think about it, she says, is that kids with SPD exhibit behavior at the extremes of what might be considered a more typical stress response. “We can use our understanding of interventions for kids with SPD to help designers create more inclusive environments for all students,” she says.
Unique Challenges = Essential Principles
Zeroing in on the ways in which school environments are especially challenging for those with SPD, Alcocer points out that quite often these children have physical issues that complicate their experience of sensory input. They may have low muscle tone, decreased strength, poor posture, and poor endurance. “All of this means that their visual is their strength,” Alcocer explains, “but they're having to use that so much throughout the day that their vision fatigues and they lose their strength.”
Visual accommodation, the coordination of the eyes for near point vision (to look at and work on items on their desk: convergence) and far point vision (to look at teacher and items on the board: divergence) requires control of ocular-motor muscles of the eyes. Many students have low muscle tone in all the muscles of their body. The bombardment of visual information in the classroom paired with constant visual accommodation results in visual fatigue. Attention follows the eyes. When the eyes are unable to focus and fixate on words and objects, it mirrors the symptoms of attention deficit. As the day goes on it is difficult for the students to focus long enough to initiate or complete tasks. They are no longer available for learning.
But this is where proper seating and movement can save them. Even just micro-movements of the pelvis and trunk can stimulate muscle control for the upright posture needed for fine motor control, writing, and ocular-motor control. Many students fidget in their desks, get up from their seats or fall out of their chairs on purpose in attempts to maintain their attention. With desks and chairs typically set to average height, they generally don't fit the majority of children in the classroom.
“Ideally, each student should be in ‘90, 90, 90’ during seated activities: 90-degree hip flexion, 90-degree knee flexion, 90-degree ankle flexion. I have spent hours adjusting chairs and desks to fit students properly, but that doesn't work when students transition to other areas of the classroom, to other classrooms, or to other areas on campus.”
We need to start thinking about universal design versus universal height. This can mean:
- Easily adjustable chairs and desks that allow feet to touch the ground, with desktops angled to promote wrist extension needed for precise movement and control in handwriting. This reduces fatigue.
- Chairs that rock and rotate, but don't rotate completely to reduce distraction.
- Sidearms and supportive shapes promote secure seating during movement without the need for restraints.
- Allowing for micro movements that can stimulate muscle tone for postural control.
Read more about how movement increases student engagement.
Strategies that are mindful of both poor motor planning and poor attention span can help, not only for those with SPD but for all students—every kid is prone to both visual fatigue and waning attention, especially during a long school day. This leads to the need for classroom designs that allow all students to flourish.
Designers Take Note
Alcocer says that a flexible environment is key. This means incorporating a wide range of options affecting the visual and aural experience of the classroom, as well as the motor experience. Strategies that are mindful of organizational challenges can be immensely helpful, as can approaches that give students more control over their personal space.
The following are some broad principles for designers and school officials to consider:
- Good ventilation and natural light
- Improved lighting:
-Blue/green filters
-Built-in dimmers
- Better acoustics:
-Improvements in PA sound quality
-Classroom-specific control over PA volume
-Options for teacher-to-student headsets to filter out background noise
- Study carrels or other strategies that balance privacy with openness and visual exits
- Larger spaces conducive to a mix of seating with the option for floor sitting or standing desks
Out of the Box
Alcocer’s suggestions point to possible improvements at both the product level and the overall design of the space. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a desk that actually had some organization inside for books and binders and maybe a folder for all these magical papers that are getting stuffed everywhere because students don't know where to put them? Or what about a seating device that’s flat on one side and bumpy on the other side. It's like a therapy ball, but less of a weapon.”
Perhaps the biggest target for designers and educators is a more eclectic classroom space: larger rooms that offer the basics like natural light and good acoustics while also incorporating options for a variety of working styles and ameliorating the inherent pressures of being too close to other students. Observing what works for kids with SPD often reveals common-sense solutions that appeal to our basic human nature: approximating the outdoors, mitigating unpleasant distractions, providing options for both movement and stillness, and finding a balance between physical closeness and respecting personal space.
Given the omnipresent context of space/budget constraints, designing better classrooms for all learners will require ingenuity in droves. It won’t be easy but will definitely reward innovation and unconventional thinking—two things designers are known for!
Read more about this topic in our series “Classroom Design for All Learners”
- Through the eyes of an Educator
- Through the eyes of an Occupational Therapist
- Through the eyes of a Speech Therapist (coming soon)
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In part one of our series on thoughtful classroom design, we heard an educator’s perspective on...