Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Structure and routine
Some children need to move, and the choice is whether that movement is allowed for or whether it arrives as a disruption later on.
A ball chair, a standing desk, a seat near the front, or permission to walk to the back and return with a nod and nothing said: any of these let the need out in small amounts. Suppressed movement does not disappear, it builds and then breaks out at the least convenient moment, usually in a form that gets the child in trouble. Sanctioning it keeps it inside the ordinary run of the room rather than making it a rule to be broken.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Continue to remember God, standing, sitting, and lying on your sides (Quran 4:103). More than one posture is allowed for, and the thing being done still counts.
فَإِذَا قَضَيۡتُمُ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ فَٱذۡكُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمࣰ ا وَقُعُودࣰ ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِكُمۡۚ فَإِذَا ٱطۡمَأۡنَنتُمۡ فَأَقِيمُواْ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَۚ إِنَّ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ كَانَتۡ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ كِتَٰبࣰ ا مَّوۡقُوتࣰ ا
After performing the ritual prayer, continue to remember God- standing, sitting, and lying on your sides- and once you are safe, keep up regular prayer, for prayer is obligatory for the believers at prescribed times
Qur’an 4:103read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Behavioural classroom management is graded, in a systematic update of psychosocial treatments for children and adolescents with ADHD, among the best supported approaches. Adaptations to seating and movement sit inside that broad package and have not been tested one by one. Take it as reasonable practice within a well supported approach rather than as a finding about therapy balls.
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
Movement that is allowed for comes out in small, manageable amounts instead of arriving all at once as trouble.
When not to
Agree what the movement looks like in advance, so it does not become a route out of every task the child would rather not start.
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
Bring a child back with the smallest signal that does the job. A tap on the desk, a hand on the shoulder, or simply standing beside them will usually be enough.
You do not have to use it perfectly for it to help. Using it half the time makes your week roughly half better, and that is a real gain rather than a consolation prize.
Get the child's eyes first, then give one instruction. The page, how much, and by when, and then stop.