Your classroom floor plan, believe it or not, can actually drastically help or hinder your classroom. I teach in a K-5 Autism classroom, where my students all have some level of challenging behaviors. My students also require high structure and routine. My classroom floor plan is set up to provide a highly structured environment that also helps in reducing challenging behaviors. Let’s dive in! Follow along if you are interested in why my classroom floor plan works for my students and staff.
Centers Based
In my room, about 80% of instruction is done through centers. We do some whole group work, but due to all of the different academic, cognitive, and behavioral levels in my class, it makes more sense to do smaller groups to target instruction and maintenance. Wondering how to implement centers in the classroom? Check out the Simple Centers System course or this blog! Now you know how to implement centers. But the why of centers helps create a floor plan that aids in creating structure and further reducing behaviors in the room. I create animal labels for my centers, and below is an example of my independent center. This area is full of structure and routine. The floorplan layout helps to reduce any distractions around the room.
High Structure
Students with autism tend to thrive in highly structured routines and environments. High structure provides their neurodivergent brain with predictability, reduces anxiety, helps with difficult transitions, helps build independence, and much more. This is why I have very explicit areas in my room. Each area is either blocked off using furniture or a divider, or the area is facing the wall to reduce distractions. See an example below of my teacher station desks facing the wall. The teacher station is where I take IEP data and direct teach IEP goals. There are many ways to get creative with areas in your room and items to use to decrease distractions and create dividers. Utilize any shelves or furniture you may have as dividers between areas instead of pushing them against the wall. They can still be used as shelves with their intended purpose, but now they are serving a double purpose!
Reducing Behaviors
Another reason why my floor plan works is that a good floor plan can help reduce challenging behaviors. One reason all of my areas are so blocked off is not only to prevent distractions, but it is also to reduce the chances of elopement from the designated area. I have many different areas and furniture strategically placed throughout your room. It then becomes a sort of obstacle course in your room. This can slow down a student attempting to run out of the classroom and reduce the chances of longer episodes of elopement. This is because it is harder and takes longer to access the door. If staff members are positioned at centers throughout the room, it also gives the student increased chances of being redirected by an adult before they reach the door.
Below is a picture of my whole classroom. As you can see, it looks sort of like an obstacle course with decreased chances of getting out of the door.
Reducing Behaviors (continued…)
We have covered how a good floor plan can help reduce elopement outside of the designated area and the room. But, how else can a good floor plan help reduce challenging behaviors? Creating a room with different defined areas, reduced distractions, and lots of structure in the floor plan helps our students’ minds be at ease. When a student’s mind is at ease, they are less likely to engage in challenging behaviors. This is due to overwhelm, anxiety, and the unknown. See the picture below of my whole group area. It is blocked off by multiple shelves, and there are different seating options for different needs. It is clearly marked where to go for whole group time, but the students also do not have a lot space to engage in additional challenging behaviors.
The End
These are a few reasons why my highly structured floor plan works for my high needs classroom. Every classroom is different, so consider the needs of your students before executing a floor plan that will work for them and the staff. If you have any additional questions about how my room is set up, check out my classroom tour post. 🙂
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