to question teacher giving children toys

[Noodlenoon]

To play with in class?
Peeped in the window a couple of weeks back and saw my son (almost 7) went to a table and took something before he sat on the carpet. When I asked him he said it was a lump of blu tac for him to fiddle with. Huh? Since when were kids allowed things to play with in class? He said there were two of them that were allowed to play with stuff. Can anyone explain?

Why dont you parent help one day, op, then you can see these practices in action instead of moaning about how the teacher is trying to make life easier for herself when she is actually trying to support your son.

It's a good idea, and helps some children concentrate. I teach a boy with ADHD and when he starts to lose it in class he starts shuffling around, tapping on the desk, twitching, kicking his feet against the desk. I remind him to use his stress ball and all that energy goes into his fingers instead.

I'd rather kids fiddled with a stress reliever than deconstructed their pens, as many do. The amount of springs that get lost that way.

I used to have a basket on my desk filled with those bendy foldy rulers, stretchy smiley faces,tangles, blu tak etc. They were there for anyone to use if they needed something to fiddle with.

I carry several tangles in my handbag for myslef otherwise I click my pen on and off which irritates all around me.

YABU some people need to fiddle. ds1 and I are always fiddling with stuff. I get mine from Hawkins Bazaar and ds1 has blue tak.

what a brilliant idea.
I often click my pen to help me concentrate. I find that I don't concentrate so well when there's no clicker.

Yes it's definitely used by many teachers to help the fidgeters. I used to give some to the fidgety children in assembly. It's also useful for children who pinch others, I tell them to pinch the blutack in their pocket if they feel they want to pinch someone. Nb I'm not for one moment suggesting this about your child though.

Just echoing everybody else really, it is common practice and is primarily for the child's benefit. My sons are given fiddly things for assemblies or when they need to concentrate and listen is class. They have ASD, but there are "fiddlers" that don't have SN.

Blutac works equally well for fidgety Year 6 children! My DD obsessed.

I facilitate adult education. My rule is fiddle, click, carve, doodle, play with toys but BE PRESENT. No cell phones, no whispering or note passing (some of the adults are teens) and it works. A lot of people, including children, benefit from this, some don't. Some work well with noise, some don't. There has been quite a lot of research on this stuff.

Some of the children in my classes have Tangle Toys (I actually have one myself as I can get quite anxious - I don't use it in school but have at other times - they are amazing). Some children need to be fiddling in order to focus. I also have some children who have doodle pads. If we are watching a documentary I often given out paper to all of the children - most doodle while watching. Bizarrely, what they remember from the documentary really increases.

If your son fiddles, he will disturb the rest of the class. If the teacher wants everybody to have a chance to learn she has two options: either keep punishing him or help him to concentrate (which is what the blutack is for). Would you prefer him to be punished every few minutes?

Years ago, teachers dealt with fiddling by heavy use of the ruler. More disruptive for the class and not very nice for the child who ended up with swollen bruised fingers.

I think you will find it is fairly standard to do this. We have some Kooshee balls that we give to persistant fiddlers. This stops them from pesrsistantly undoing and doing up velcro or laces,playing with others hair,finding paperclips and bending and unbending them,tearing up tissues,even pulling bits off their shoes etc,etc,....

Yes, there is a blutack fiddler in dd's class. Before he was allowed to fiddle with blutack, he used to fiddle with dd's hair. DD strongly approves of the bluetack.

Sorry I am just giggling at you peeping in at a 7 years old class especially long enough to observe your Son getting gout of his chair and getting blu tac! What were the chances of that peep giving so much info you must have been there ages or it was a massive coincidence!
Watch out you may get arrested next time

I have had some students still using it into secondary school too! always agreed as a cross department strategy if deemed a useful strategy

Yes, these are concentration aids. DS2 listens better and takes more in when his hands are busy. Sometimes the school provides them, sometimes I do.

I may try this! All 3 of mine are 'fidgeters' at school, DS1 particularly so. In fact he repeatedly gets into trouble for click-click-clicking his pen while he is thinking.

I'm going to send him in with a bit of Blu tak after the holidays as an experiment.

Maybe he will get put on amber less? And not piss the teacher off so much...

I have to say at the idea of blutac being a 'toy'! I thought from your op that the teacher was handing out actual toys.... Wondered where the budget for that had come from!!

Ad also at you peeking in long enough to see all of this! I also see you sneaking up for a peek in my mind!!

I suppose my son must just be fiddly then and have a teacher who wants to make her life easier.

Oh FFS! The teacher's job is to teach, the children are there to learn. If you have a fiddler in your class it can be incredibly distracting for everybody.

The child who fiddles directs their attention to the plaits of the girl in front; the velcro strip on their shoes; something that catches their eye on the floor underneath a cupboard 6 feet away; picking their nose; pulling on someone else's cardigan... And it there's nothing to fiddle with they get fidgety and often start shifting their position, inadvertently kicking someone else in the process.

All the while they are not listening and so they are not learning.

They are distracting the other children so they are not listening and they are not learning.

The other children provide a constant stream of "Miiiiiiiiiissss, Jake kicked me"; "ugh Miss, Jake's picking his nose"; "Miss, Jake's found a paperclip under the cupboard"; "Miss, I don't want to sit next to Jake, he's annoying me".

The teacher can respond with "Jake, I need you to put that down"; "Jake I need you to listen"; "Jake come and sit by me on the carpet" or "Jake, I need you to go and help Miss Smith (the TA) get some things ready" to just get Jake off the carpet and stop him from disturbing everyone else's learning but also interrupting his own.

Jake can end up be subject to the discipline steps from the behaviour policy and find himself losing playtime/golden time/in time out.

Jake hasn't learned anything, his classmates haven't learned anything and the teacher hasn't taught anything. Jake is upset, his classmates are annoyed the teacher is exasperated.

Or the teacher can let Jake hold a small small of blu tack while he's sitting on the carpet. His need to fiddle is met, the teacher can teach and all the children (including Jake) can learn. Harmony in the classroom is restored.

OP, Jake is your son.

Oh and school doesn't make your son fiddly. He is fiddly and he does it at school.

As Folkgirl said, really, you should be pleased that the teacher has sought a solution for your son rather than thinking that she is making HER OWN LIFE EASIER. What a negative attitude towards school, OP!

Good post Folk ! I am in awe of the power of blu tac and will dreckly hand out to all my children !!

your son is obviously fidgety or doesn't have a lot of concentration giving him blutac is a distraction AND a focus for him ask the teacher their is obviously a reason teachers dont let children play with blutac for no reason, DD uses a hair band to fiddle with to help her,

there is*