Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Structure and routine
A child who cannot yet catch their own drifting needs somebody close enough to catch it for them. Where they sit does a lot of that work quietly.
From nearby a teacher sees attention go before the work is lost, and can bring the child back without stopping the lesson for everyone. Proximity also does something on its own. A child who knows an adult is within arm's reach steadies a little without a word being said. Say out loud that this is a good seat and why you have chosen it, so it never reads as the naughty corner.
Qur’an and Sunnah
God has ordained that they be raised high and that His name be remembered in them (Quran 24:36). Places are set up to make remembering easier, and a seat can be chosen in the same spirit.
فِي بُيُوتٍ أَذِنَ ٱللَّهُ أَن تُرۡفَعَ وَيُذۡكَرَ فِيهَا ٱسۡمُهُۥ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ فِيهَا بِٱلۡغُدُوِّ وَٱلۡأٓصَالِ
shining out in houses of worship. God has ordained that they be raised high and that His name be remembered in them, with men in them celebrating His glory morning and evening
Qur’an 24:36read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A systematic update of the evidence for children and adolescents with ADHD placed behavioural classroom management among the psychosocial treatments with the strongest support, alongside parent training and peer interventions. That grading covers the whole approach of running a classroom deliberately, not seating plans on their own. So the confidence belongs to the package, and where a child sits is one small, sensible piece inside it.
Steven W. Evans; Julie Sarno Owens; Nóra Bunford (2013). Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Noticing you have drifted is the hard part, so the noticing gets borrowed from someone nearby until the child can manage it alone.
When not to
If the child reads the move as being singled out, explain plainly why you have done it and leave them some say in where exactly they land.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Once tasks sit in the week rather than on a list, you can see that Thursday has no room left. Saying no gets much easier when the crowding is in front of your eyes instead of somewhere in your head.
If a young person hears your suggestion of a planner as one more instruction, they will refuse it, and the refusal is about who is in charge rather than about diaries. Hand over the choice of format and the choice of what goes in.
A three o'clock appointment half an hour away is a half past two appointment. Put the true start time in and let the calendar hold it, rather than asking yourself to work it out on the day.