There is a misconception that a child who is sitting quietly is able to concentrate better but the reality can be quite different. For some children, the mental and physical energy it takes to sit quiet and still is all consuming. This leaves them depleted of the energy required to focus on learning. What they end up learning is how to not be disruptive in a classroom setting, which is only a useful skill during grade school years. There are ways to support the child’s self-regulation and sensory needs, while also meeting the needs of the class for minimal disruption. This article depicts my critical analysis of the “Full Body Listening” technique.
How can we deconstruct this strategy and revise it to be more inclusive and respectful of neurodivergence?
What is the purpose of “Full Body Listening?”
⁃ For the child to learn how to sit quietly.
Sitting still and being quiet are not marketable skills so what is the underlying purpose?
⁃ To not disrupt the teacher or distract the class with self-regulating behaviours.
⁃ To teach the child skills that improve their ability to focus and function in a group setting.
⁃ To teach neurotypical social skills.
⁃ There may also be a misconception that a child who is sitting quietly is able to concentrate better but the reality can be quite different.
What actually happens with the child who is being asked for “Full Body Listening?”
⁃ Every minute they spend trying to appear calm and quiet, they are using all their mental and physical energy to suppress their sensory needs. This makes it incredibly hard to focus on anything else. So in effect, teaching the neurodiverse child “Full Body Listening,” actually may make it more difficult for them to concentrate and “listen” yet it does possibly help the teacher and other students to concentrate better.
Is there a way to meet the child’s sensory needs while minimizing the distraction to the rest of the class?
⁃ Instead of challenging a neurodiverse child to do something that is incredibly difficult for them, at the sacrifice of their own learning, for the benefit of others, maybe we could help the child to find a quiet way to meet their sensory needs. In this way we are finding a functional way for the child to meet their needs, allowing them to focus on the group discussion (which is hard enough), instead of asking them to suppress their need, which only benefits the others in the room. This is how we change the narrative from “neurodiversity is something that needs to be fixed” to “neurodiverse people need to be supported through the offering of accommodations and inclusive practices that avoid ableist language and perceptions.”
Here are a few options that the child could chose from:
⁃ Fidget toy
⁃ Hand presses
⁃ Yoga ball to sit and bounce on
What if other kids say “why do they get to play with a toy?”
⁃ My response would be “would you like to hold onto a toy for a while?” Why not convey acceptance for a need to self-regulate? I love to fidget with things and have always been that way. I found school so boring that I had to constantly be moving, drawing, talking or fidgeting or else I would completely drift off into my own world. I needed that sensory input to concentrate on the lesson. The way we teach children is not how our species taught their young, in the past. Experiential learning, done outside, without a book or work sheet is how the human race evolved. All that experiential learning led to all this innovation we have now. The more we put children’s thoughts into a box, the harder it will be to get them to think outside of it. Children are not built to sit in a chair and endlessly retain information through one method. Children are meant to be actively exploring their environment. If we want children to continue to learn in a setting and with a method so far from their natural way of learning, then we need to be flexible and accommodating about how they choose to cope. I feel this should go for all children, not just those recognized as neurodiverse.
What if the teacher finds it distracting?
⁃ I think then it is the teachers responsibility to work on their own ability to cope with auditory or visual sensory triggers. There is so much the teacher can do to try and adapt their own perceptions and coping strategies, instead of asking the child to change theirs.
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