Teaching · Special Education

Fit the chair and desk to the student, in inches.

Take three body measurements and three furniture ones. The checklist compares them, names the mismatch and tells you how high the footrest or desk should be.

Measure a studentWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Special Education toolkit, $99 for 100 items.

The seating check

One check per student and date. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
Each measurement compared with its target, a numbered list of changes with heights and thicknesses, and the posture items to look at again.
Who it is for
Classroom and special education teachers, paraprofessionals and the occupational therapists who work with them.
Format
Browser checklist with a tape measure. Saved checks; printed with the summary or as a blank form; CSV; export and import a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Special Education toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
ninety at the hips, knees and ankles
Drawn for this page. When the chair and desk fit, a student can sit upright with feet supported and write without hitching the shoulders.

How to use it

  1. Start a check with the student’s code and the date.
  2. Measure the student seated, with shoes on.
  3. Measure the chair and desk and mark what adjusts.
  4. Watch a few minutes of writing and mark what you see.
  5. Make the changes, then copy the check to a new date and look again.

Measure a student

Reading the fit

The targets

Seat at about lower-leg height so feet rest flat with knees near a right angle; at least two inches between the seat edge and the back of the knee; desk surface level with to about two inches above the bent elbow with shoulders relaxed. Students grow, so measure each term.

When to bring in a therapist

If a student still slumps, leans or wraps around the chair once the furniture fits, the occupational or physical therapist should look at seating and postural support.

What this is not

A seating assessment for a student with a physical disability or a wheelchair. That is the therapist’s work.

Sources

  1. Parcells, C., Stommel, M., & Hubbard, R. P. (1999). Mismatch of classroom furniture and student body dimensions. Journal of Adolescent Health, 24(4).
  2. Castellucci, H. I., Arezes, P. M., & Viviani, C. A. (2010). Mismatch between classroom furniture and anthropometric measures in Chilean schools. Applied Ergonomics, 41(4).
  3. American Occupational Therapy Association, school ergonomics tip sheets for students.
  4. Cornell University Ergonomics Web, workstation fit: seat height, seat depth and work-surface height.

The example student is made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.