"Drawing" the wrong conclusion

These focusing activities don't measure up.

Originally published in the Moultrie News.

The teacher keeps telling my son to stop drawing in class, but he says he focuses better when he does. Should I pursue a 504 plan so he can continue?

Section 504 accommodation plans are intended for diagnosed medical conditions that substantially interfere with a student’s ability to learn. If a child has a broken hand, for example, a 504 might allow typing instead of handwriting.

Over time, attention-related diagnoses like ADHD have been added to the list of qualifying conditions. That expansion is controversial, as studies suggest ADHD is prone to overdiagnosis and there’s considerable disagreement over its treatment.

Regardless, drawing is just one of several “focusing activities” parents sometimes request as accommodations. Others include wobble stools, molding putty, fidget toys, and listening to music.

I’m not a doctor or a specialist in attention disorders, so take this as you will, but after many years in the classroom, I’ve never seen these strategies improve a student’s focus. More often, they reduce it while distracting nearby students.

The logic behind them is puzzling. Drawing requires concentration, often a great deal of it. If a child already struggles to focus on one task, how does splitting attention between two tasks ease the problem? It would seem more likely that a child who can concentrate on two jobs at once has a superpower, not a deficiency.

To be clear, we’re not talking about idle doodling in the margins of a notebook. If that were the case, no teacher would care. Everyone has done that during a lecture. It’s usually a sign of boredom or fatigue, not a medical condition, and it doesn’t require a formal accommodation.

What we’re talking about here is sustained, intentional sketching — sometimes on sketchpads, often producing impressive work. And that’s the issue. Good drawing takes focus. If the student can concentrate well enough to render detailed images, then the problem may not be attention capacity at all.

Which raises important questions. When your son is in art class, does he need a second activity to help him focus on drawing? Does he need to draw while reading a book or watching television? Will he need to sketch while driving a car someday—or feel he can text and drive with no adverse consequences?

If the answer to those questions is yes, then perhaps there’s something to the idea that divided attention improves focus. But in most cases, the answer is no.

That’s because many times the problem isn’t fatigue or focusing disorders, but simply lack of interest. I could focus effortlessly on discussions of “The Great Gatsby” in school, but I often zoned out when the subject was math. I didn’t have a disorder. I just didn’t enjoy equations. Giving me a more appealing activity to do at the same time wouldn’t have improved my focus; it would have ripped me from the lesson altogether.

That’s why it’s important to distinguish between a genuine barrier to learning and a child’s personal preference. Accommodations should address the former, not oblige the latter. Teaching a child that attention-splitting is a biological necessity risks creating long-term dependence.

As a lawyer in court, will your son be penciling pictures of the judge? As a doctor, will he be drawing a house while listening to a patient explain their symptoms? During a discussion with his spouse, will he be sketching the dog?

Indulging a child’s preferences can be dangerous in another way: If he comes to believe that he’s incapable of paying attention on his own, that belief can harden into identity, perhaps pushing the ability to focus permanently out of reach.

Fortunately, there are ways to help students stay alert without fragmenting their attention: standing briefly, squeezing a stress ball, and using focus-tracking strategies are examples. Better still is instilling durable habits that last beyond school: leaning in, putting away distractions, making eye contact, and staying present.

After all, 504 plans eventually go away. Life is here for the duration.

---

Jody Stallings has been an award-winning teacher in Charleston since 1992 and is director of the Charleston Teacher Alliance. To submit a question, order his books, or follow him on social media, please visit JodyStallings.com.