When I was younger and got an ADHD diagnosis they kept trying to sit me in the front of the room so that I could pay attention better. It always made everything so much worse and as a child I could never articulate why. Turns out some things that were going on at home had already given me mild PTSD by the time I entered middle school. What was actually most distracting to me was the feeling of people behind me and not being able to see the door. When I was in college and could pick my own seating arrangements sitting in the back of the room away from everyone and where I could see the door made a huuuge difference.
Was just reflecting on this and wanted to share.
Your teachers should have asked you your preference for your preferred seating.
I ended up getting reevaluated for some reason in high school back in the '90s, by a complete pompous asshole. So, according to this dude, not preferring to sit at the front of a classroom is proof positive that it cannot possibly be ADHD. I must just be lazy and manipulative. (That second part was a new one, at least. Trying to dodge accountability? Idek.)
That was it, that was the entire rationale stated for why ADHD was supposedly no longer an issue in my life. I am not joking. Thankfully my parents thought he sounded full of it too, and did arrange for a more comprehensive educational reevaluation through a university center. Where my own seating preferences never came up, incidentally.
Yeah, I also had PTSD and actual (partly documented) reason not to trust some people behind me at that school. Turns out I’m also on the autistic spectrum. I still have not magically grown out of either thing, 30+ years later. Funny how that works.
That little anecdote aside, I do get the idea that this is probably one of those longterm received wisdom things. Just because it’s a go-to suggestion, doesn’t mean that this strategy is going to work best for everyone. Useful point to bring up, OP.
When I entered Middleschool* one of the teachers in charge got me a single desk directly infront of the teachers desk, about 5m away from everybody else. As I remembered, he did this in our first class, without knowing me. And because I “forgot” my home work the first two weeks, I had 1h detention everyday for the rest of the year… It was a pain in the ass but kinda worked for me. My grades got up really fast. He and my class teacher were the reason I took the relevant turn in school to enter College* and university later on
My ADHD got officially diagnosed in my 30s. And back then there was little to no awareness for neuro diversity. For them it was just “a type of person” or “character”. Like some people are calm and dont like to talk much or some people have their issues to behave theirself. So it wasnt something tailored for ADHD. The teachers were acting intuitive and out of their working experience. They were both just before retirement.
*Im from europe, so I tried to translate it in the more commonly known american school system terms
That sounds like “right answer, wrong method” to me, tbh. Did you feel ashamed for having to sit in the front or having detention, or was it more like “eh, works for me, might as well go along with it”?
