Father’s classroom desk eases autistic son’s school struggles

A custom-built classroom desk has helped 12-year-old Sylvester Funder reduce school fatigue and conflicts, DR reports. Sylvester, who has autism and is particularly sensitive to sounds and visual impressions, was close to moving to a special school before his father built the furniture.

Sylvester attends an ordinary public school in Vejle and has just started seventh grade. His classroom used to overwhelm him with sounds from pencil cases, whispers from classmates and movement in his peripheral vision.

The constant distractions made it difficult for him to concentrate and often led to conflicts. His parents were also regularly called to collect him from school, while Sylvester sometimes had stomach aches in the mornings.

His father, Mads Funder, is a trained carpenter and runs a company that makes assistive equipment. He designed a desk surrounded by sound-dampening panels, blocking Sylvester’s view of the classroom so that he can focus on the board.

Sylvester calls it Sylvester’s office. He says the furniture makes it much easier to look at the board, follow the lesson and see what the teacher is showing.

The desk has significantly reduced conflicts, according to Mads Funder. He says the family now comes home with a much happier boy and that Sylvester’s emerging school fatigue has disappeared.

Mads Funder stresses that the furniture cannot work on its own. He describes it as an assistive aid, comparable to glasses for children who need them, and says pupils may also need teaching staff and school leaders to work together using educational approaches.

Sylvester is not the only pupil with his own office. Seven schools besides his own have bought similar furniture.

At Kongsbjergskolen, a school in Lunderskov, one of the desks has been used since March by a pupil who had difficulty attending school. Teacher Lene Ryssel says the child might otherwise have stopped attending or developed school refusal because there would have been no place to find peace and quiet.

Sylvester rates his office 9.5 out of 10. The only thing missing, he says, is a soft drink machine.