strong sitting in the classroom
what is postural control?
Have you ever tried to write while sitting on a moving bus?
It’s possible, of course. But challenging. And frustrating. And the product is, let’s just say, far from your best handwriting.
Why? Because our ability to control the movement of our hands is entirely dependent on our ability to stabilize our trunk. This core stability is called postural control. And it is the foundation for doing any task that requires the skilled use of our hands.
why is postural control so important?
Although often overlooked, postural control is essential to our students’ classroom performance.
For this reason, when I teach my students about postural control I explain to them that it is actually a super skill.
A super skill is a skill that makes all of your other skills even stronger.
This is absolutely the case with postural control. When students develop the ability to achieve and maintain a steady posture during a task, their performance of that task will improve.
On the flip side, difficulty maintaining a stable posture will compromise the development of other skills. Knowing this, postural control is definitely one of the first things I look at and address when I hear that a student is struggling.
what do postural control problems look like?
Many of our students deal with postural instability to varying degrees in the classroom.
When it comes to difficulty with postural control, some things you may notice are:
difficulty staying seated, difficulty sitting still, or fidgeting
leaning to the side, propping head in hand, or resting head on the desk
alternate sitting position like sitting on feet or half-standing
feet dangling in the air
sliding body forward in chair
All of these issues related to poor postural control affect performance of classroom tasks.
For example, if your student is propping his head on his hand, he will be unable to stabilize his paper with that hand while writing, which will impact handwriting legibility.
Or, if a student is sliding her body far forward in the chair to stabilize herself, she will be unable to make the subtle postural adjustments needed to cross her midline when writing, and she may have difficulty writing across the page from one margin to the other.
So make sure you keep a close eye on how your students look when seated at their desks. Noticing how your students are able to control their bodies when seated is the first step towards supporting this “super skill” in your classroom.
start by seating students for success
Now that you are aware of the impact of postural control in you classroom, what’s next?
In order to set your students up for success, you need to seat them for success.
That means taking a look at how well your students fit their chair and desk.
In an ideal world, schools would have adjustable chairs and desks that we could adjust to fit each child at the beginning of the year. But in reality, you have to work with whatever furniture your school has available. Given this constraint, here is a simple process for making sure your students are well seated:
choose the best chair: most elementary schools have a variety of chairs with the most common seat heights available, which are approximately 10 inch, 12 inch, 14, inch, and 16 inch. You want to seat your student in the chair in which they can most closely achieve the 90-90-90 rule (hips, knees, and ankles at 90 degrees). Most importantly, your student’s feet must be able to reach the ground and be flat on the floor. This is a must. Also make sure your student’s back reaches the chair back when sitting upright, with hips at 90 degrees, otherwise the depth of the chair seat might be too big.
check the desk: desk height should ideally be 1-2 inches above the child’s elbow when bent at 90 degrees when seated. Higher that that and your student will have to lift their arms up in an awkward and uncomfortable position to work. Lower than that and your student will have to lean forward to work. Also, if there is a book bin under the desk top, make sure there is enough room between the bottom of the book bin and the student’s legs.
ask for help: in my experience, when it comes to fixing seating problems, the most helpful person in my building is the custodian. Whether it is having the right tool to adjust a desk height, getting a more appropriate sized piece of furniture out of storage, or swapping some items between classrooms, your custodian can be a great resource.
Also, there are some super helpful tools to keep in your teacher toolbox:
Tape measure: the best way to communicate what size chair or desk you need for a student is to be specific
Allen wrench: usually the tool you need to adjust desk height
Reference chart: a guide to optimal seating is included here.
teaching your students about strong sitting
As I mentioned, I directly teach my students about postural control (I call it “Strong Sitting”). I introduce it by emphasizing that it is a Super Skill that makes all of our other skills stronger.
Then I share the 3 Secrets of Strong Sitting:
FEET ON FLOOR: It is essential that our feet are flat on the floor when seated in a chair. This is what anchors us. When I demonstrate this to students I encourage them to do a “stomp, stomp” with their feet on the floor for a little added sensory input, which helps to strengthen the learning.
BODY STEADY: Then I show them how to engage their core muscles to achieve an upright posture. I model sitting up while “activating” my trunk muscles as if I was zipping up an invisible zipper until my body is straight and tall.
HANDS READY: Finally we all tap both hands on the desk with a little “Bam!” (again, the sensory input amplifies the learning) to indicate that our hands are ready for action.
As an extension of the lesson, we make a little poster to refer to in order to help remember these steps by cutting, sequencing, and gluing the action words and the visual cues onto a page. This would be great to send home so that the concept of strong sitting can also be reinforced during seated times at home, such as mealtimes and homework.
what else can you do help your students to sit at a desk?
To practice what was learned during the strong sitting lesson, I prompt my students to use strong sitting skills every time they are doing a seated task at the desk, using the verbal and gestural cues that were taught:
Feet on floor (stomp, stomp)
Body steady (I gesture zipping up my trunk muscles)
Hands ready (“Bam”)
Visual cues are also immensely helpful. They remind students what they have learned and help them work towards independently using the skill (find some here).
A few other considerations, which we will be discussing in more detail in upcoming posts, include being aware of how long we are asking our students to sit, offering movement breaks when needed, and when to consider alternate seating, such as a standing desk, if a student continues to struggle. These are all important to think about, but not until a student has been given direct instruction and the opportunity to practice their sitting skills.
And last but certainly not least - reinforcement! Make sure to notice and reinforce when a student is progressing with their postural control. Give them a shout out, “I see you using your strong sitting skills!” Or, give feedback, “I notice when your body is steady, your coloring looks amazing! Way to go!” Reinforcement teaches the brain what is worth repeating, and locks in the learning.
from struggle to strength
Postural control is one of those amazing things that, once you notice it, make some adjustments in your classroom, and teach your students about it, you will absolutely see positive changes.
It’s a perfect example of how using simple strategies to support skills can turn struggle into strength in your classroom.
Let me know how it goes, and if you have any specific questions, please ask! I am here to help. And stay tuned for future posts regarding sitting at school, such as additional seating modifications, sitting on the floor during class meetings, and strategies to help kids who find sitting still to be particularly challenging.
