If you’ve ever dealt with someone with neurodivergent issues, specifically ADHD and other related developmental issues, concentration is a hard thing to practice. It is important to give them the tools that can help them focus on the task at hand, especially while they’re still young and studying in school. But it’s also crucial that they are able to not be too isolated from their classmates and learn to work with them while dealing with their own issues.
Designer: Shion Ito
A Japanese designer thought about this problem and decided to come up with a concept that would let students with ADHD create their own physical bubble to help them with their concentration issues. At the same time, it will not totally isolate them from their classmates and even get them to participate in creating this bubble if they wish to do so. What he came up with is something called Forest, a set of desk partitions and slot profiles to attach to the student’s table.
Basically, the partition can be created using cut-outs of things like animals, plants, and trees, hence the Forest name. Students will be able to choose what kind of forest they want to create for their bubble and how high or how low this bubble will be. During the prototyping and testing phase of this concept, other students also found the building of this “fortress” to be something they’d like to participate in, therefore eliminating the isolation that the student with ADHD may feel.
Some of the existing partitions for students with concentration issues are too big and too isolated. Forest has small partitions and cut-outs so that it will not be too intimidating both for the ADHD student and his neurotypical classmates. These cutouts are made from wood and painted with soft colors like yellow, green, and turquoise blue, which help the students focus on their studies by calming their eyes.
Hopefully, the Forest will be something that schools with students with ADHD will be able to test this out. Anything that can help them focus and concentrate and also get their classmates to participate will be a welcome tool.
