Fidget Spinner May Help Children With ADHD

Fidget Spinner May Help Children With ADHD

While most toy fads go through cycles of boom and bust, one that has taken hold of schools nationwide is the fidget spinner, the little metal gadgets that kids huddle around in classrooms like tiny fans. The spinners have been marketed as a tool to help children with attention disorders and autism, but they're also popular among many students who use them to help them focus in class. Amid the swirl of fidget spinner mania, schools are banning the toys and teachers are confiscating them. But a new study suggests the spinners may help children who struggle with focus, attention and anxiety.

The small metal spinners come in an array of colors, shapes and designs. Some have smooth silicone parts, others are made of aluminum and some have emojis or tie dye. Some even glow in the dark. They sell for $10 to $20 each at Learning Express, a toy store in Denver, and YouTube videos of spinner tricks have racked up millions of views.

Fidgeting is a natural reaction to stress or anxiety, but it can lead to distraction, and that can be challenging for students with ADHD. Therapeutic methods such as mindfulness and meditation can help with this, but not everyone has access to those resources. The fidget spinners that have exploded in popularity can help with those symptoms because they focus the mind on just one task, and that can make it easier to move from one activity to another.

A study published earlier this year in the journal Psychotherapy Research found that students with anxiety or attention disorders saw a marked improvement when they were given their own spinner to keep during a class. The researchers studied a group of students with ADHD who attended a special needs high school in the state of Colorado. They were randomly assigned to two groups: the "Fidget spinner" group and the control group. The students were allowed to use their spinners during a center time for their academic subject and were monitored by the researcher. Each student was trained on the rules of spinner usage and was only given their spinner if they obeyed all of the rules. This training took 3 to 5 minutes per student

The results showed a significant increase in on-task behaviors, with the "Fidget spinner" group seeing a more than 50% improvement over the controls. The authors of the study note that the improvements seen could be due to habituation. Students only had access to the spinner for one instructional period each day, and so it could be that they became used to using it without having to think about it.

While the study's findings suggest that the fidget spinner can be beneficial for children with anxiety or attention disorders, there are also concerns about their safety. While the toys are safe for most, they can have small metal parts that can be a choking hazard. Parents should carefully monitor children while they're playing with these toys and only buy them at reputable stores that test for safety.

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