A father in Vejle has built a custom school desk with noise-dampening panels for his 12-year-old autistic son, and at least seven other Danish schools have since bought the same furniture.
Mads Funder, a trained carpenter who runs a company making assistive devices, designed the desk for his son Sylvester Funder. DR reports that the boy attends a mainstream folkeskole in Vejle and has just started 7th grade.
Sylvester Funder has autism and is particularly sensitive to sounds and visual impressions. Noise from pencil cases, whispering classmates and movement at the edge of his vision left his brain constantly working overtime. According to DR, the constant disruption broke his concentration and often led to conflicts at school.
The family was close to moving him to a special needs school because he was not thriving in the classroom. His parents did not want that, so his father built what the boy now calls “Sylvester’s office”. It is a desk surrounded by noise-dampening modules that block the view of the classroom, leaving only a line of sight to the blackboard.
Fewer calls from the school
Before the desk was introduced, Sylvester Funder had stomach aches on many school mornings. His parents were called on an almost daily basis to come and collect him early. As reported by DR, he felt put on display when the teacher asked him a question, because the whole class could turn and look at him.
Mads Funder says the furniture has sharply reduced the conflicts, that a much happier boy comes home, and that the emerging school fatigue has disappeared. Per his account, the desk cannot stand alone. He describes it as an assistive tool, comparable to the glasses other children need.
According to DR, he stresses that pupils like his son need a range of things to function in class. That includes physical aids, but also teachers and school leadership working together with pedagogical tools.
Sylvester Funder is not the only pupil with his own office. Seven schools besides the one he attends have bought an identical piece of furniture, DR reports.
At Kongsbjergskolen in Lunderskov, such a desk has been used since March for a pupil who found it difficult to come to and stay at school. Lene Ryssel, a teacher at the school, says she fears the child would not have been in school without it. As stated by her, the pupil could have developed school refusal without a place to find some quiet.
DR notes that Sylvester Funder gives his office 9.5 out of 10. The only thing missing, he says, is a soda machine.
DR appears to be the only major outlet with a dedicated story on the case so far. The article describes the desk as an individual initiative that some schools have chosen to adopt, with no municipal or ministry decision behind it.
