"You're Going to Love This Kid" by Paula Kluth

Chapter 5 review.

Creating a Comfortable Classroom.

As teachers, we spend a great deal of time in our classrooms every year. We spend, what amounts to, 44 24-hour days in our classrooms each year. That is a lot of time. It is in our best interest, and our students' best interest, to make sure our classroom environment is comfortable and organized. This is especially true for children on the spectrum.

Many students on the spectrum are hypersensitive to visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile stimuli.

Lighting is something that can make a huge difference in terms of comfort in classrooms. Unfortunately, it is one of the more difficult things to manipulate. Most schools come furnished with overhead florescent lights that are extremely bright and agitating for some students. However, teachers may try turning on only a section of those lights and supplementing the other lights with a lamp. A more dimly lit environment will help many students remain calm and focused during independent work.

Sound is something a little bit easier to control. Paula Kluth says that some children on the spectrum interpret everyday sounds (e.g., pencil writing on paper, feet shuffling across the room, eating) like most people interpret nails on a chalkboard. Can every sound be mitigated? Of course not. And I would even argue that trying to remove every annoying sound would do a disservice to our students, who will eventually go out in the real world. No individual on the spectrum will go into a world in which they are protected from every common sound.

However, there are things we can do to help our sound-sensitive students adjust. We can provide earplugs or headphones. We can place them in different areas of the classroom where the sounds are minimized. We can ask our students to be self-advocates and approach us when a sound is bothering them so that we might brainstorm possible solutions.

Another thing that many students like is quiet music (e.g., classical) playing in the background during independent work. This is one of my personal favorites. I have classical music playing in the background whenever I am teaching a group of students. I play it throughout the duration of the class. I have noticed a substantial decrease in distractibility (even for myself) and problematic behaviors.

Seat placement is one of the easiest and most powerful things a teacher can manipulate to help all students. Teachers need to think about many factors when it comes to seating arrangement, not just proximity to the teacher. Here are a few factors a teacher should consider when it comes to seating arrangement:

-Proximity control
-Extraneous noises, visuals, or smells that might distract/agitate a student
-Peers in the classroom
-Access to materials
-View of the whiteboard
-Preference for sitting alone or in a group

One thing became abundantly clear after reading this chapter. Teachers must pay especially close attention to the classroom environment when they are working with students on the spectrum. Teachers need to be open to the idea of changing what they have "traditionally done" to ensure the needs of the individual student are being met. Teachers need to be willing to move away from "TTWWADI" (That's The Way We've Always Done It. Pronounced "titwati". Borowed from Ian Jukes) and be more willing to think outside the box.