Interview with the author

Adjusting the Dials: A New Framework for the Neurodivergent Classroom.

Educator and author J. Daniels discusses her new book, the science behind it, and why she thinks teachers have been asking the wrong question all along

By H. Harper· Acceleration Academics| Mar 1, 2026

Most books about neurodivergent students focus on the student. J. Daniels wants to focus on the room. In her new book, Adjusting the Dials, the educator and researcher lays out a framework built around ten environmental "dials" that teachers can calibrate to reduce the strain neurodivergent students experience in conventional classrooms. We spoke with her about the research behind the approach, why she rejects the language of "fixing" children, and what she hopes educators take away from it.

The title is a metaphor. Where did it come from?

The classroom is an environment with a lot of variables running at once: how much sensory input there is, how fast information comes at a student, how much they have to hold in working memory, how much social demand is in the air. I started thinking of those variables as dials on a mixing board rather than fixed settings. Most classrooms are calibrated for a narrow band of nervous systems. For a lot of students, the dials are simply turned to the wrong place. The book is about learning which dial to adjust, and by how much.

You write that the goal is not to "cure" anything. Can you explain that?

The premise I start from is that the hardware is not broken. A neurodivergent brain is a difference in biological architecture, not a defect. It comes with measurable things: altered sensory gating, different dopamine signaling, real metabolic costs. So the question I want teachers to stop asking is "What is wrong with this child?" The better question is "What does this nervous system need in order to function?" That reframe changes everything that follows, because it moves the intervention from the child to the environment.

What are the ten dials, broadly?

They are ten dimensions of the classroom environment that research shows can be calibrated. Things like sensory load, the velocity of incoming information, working memory demand, external scaffolding, reinforcement schedule, locus of control, social demand, physical regulation, and recovery time. Each one can be turned up or down. The point is that they are adjustable, and that the right setting depends on the student in front of you.

How is the book organized?

Each chapter takes a single profile, ADHD, autism, dyspraxia, specific learning disabilities, anxiety, depression, oppositional defiant disorder, twice-exceptional learners, and works through all ten dials for that profile. For each dial I give the neurobiological mechanism, the research supporting a particular setting, what a teacher would actually observe, and the concrete classroom adjustment. There is a summary table at the end of each chapter and a one-page reference sheet, because I wanted something a teacher could use on a Tuesday morning, not just read on a weekend.

You assign specific numerical settings to each dial for each condition. Why be that precise?

Because vagueness is where good intentions go to die. It is easy to say "support the student." It is harder, and more useful, to say that for a student with ADHD the reinforcement schedule should be turned up substantially because the research on delay aversion and dopamine signaling supports immediate, frequent feedback. The numbers force me to defend each setting against the literature rather than guessing. If I cannot point to research, the setting does not go in.

Some of the dials show a range rather than a single number. What does that signal?

Heterogeneity. Sensory load is the clearest example. Within ADHD you have sensory seekers who need more input to stay regulated and sensory avoiders who need less. A single number would be dishonest. The range is me telling the teacher: this one requires observation, not a fixed prescription.

Who did you write this for?

Classroom teachers first. Not specialists, not researchers, though I hope they find it rigorous. I wanted every claim backed by a citation, but I also wanted it to be something a general education teacher could implement without a budget or a doctorate. The aim was a book that stands on its own and respects both the science and the dignity of the student.

What is the one idea you most want a reader to walk away with?

That when you lower the metabolic cost of being in the room, you free up the energy a student needs to actually learn. You are not lowering the bar. You are removing a tax they were paying just to stay present. That is the whole project: engineer the environment so every kind of nervous system has room to do its work.