To think fidget toys aren't the same as glasses and wheelchairs?

[IroningThrone]

Came across a discussion on Facebook -one poster said the fidget toys in the vid were plastic tat. Another person replied that they're necessary and in the same class as glasses and wheelchairs.

They're not though, are they? The majority of them seem to be bought by kids who use them for a few weeks then they break and go in the bin. And they didn't seem to exist until a few years ago!

It’s all relative isn’t it?

My ADHD son ‘could’ sit through a lesson without his glasses - he wouldn’t be able to see the board so unlikely to learn anything but he could do the work book in front of him.

He could see the board and the work book without a fidget toy but would definitely be distracting others from learning and ultimately likely to be either sent out of class or given detention which would make him want to stay home from school so again - unlikely to learn anything.

A child who requires a wheelchair could likely sit in a class in a chair and listen and learn well but wouldn’t be able to leave at the end of the class.

YaNBU. They're a ridiculous marketing ploy that don't do anything an elastic band, blu tak, stress ball or small toy can't do. Just another way to get schools and parents to buy more stuff.

And they didn't seem to exist until a few years ago!

True, before they existed some of the kids I worked with favoured pulling out their hair, or their eyelashes or picking at the skin on their fingertips until they bled and got infected.

But you carry on playing top trumps, because that's obviously more important than engaging your brain.

And blu tac often isn’t a good solution - it’s a pain in rhe backside to get out of a child’s hair!

I will say as well that the SENDCOs at my daughter's school spends a significant amount of time teaching the kids HOW and WHEN to use their fidget tools, and then difference between toy and tool.

They are in the same class as in, they help the user cope with and manage their disability.

The fact that some people misuse them, or that there are 14267373 different types of, or that some are made of plastic is irrelevant.

I just had to comment when I read this, it’s absolutely not the case that wheelchairs ‘don’t cause any inconvenience to anyone else’ I have lost count of the number of angry confrontations I have had with people having a go at me for getting in their way in some way or another for being in my wheelchair.

Nasty horrible abuse in many cases. Often to do with lifts, especially in places with lots of floors and queues for the lift. Then there’s being on a pavement or in a shop in their way, or daring to need them to move out of the way if I need to get past. Don’t forget the ‘it’s all right for you, you get to sit down all day’ comments 🤬

They are very useful to some people with ND but they aren’t the same level as glasses and wheelchairs - no one is going to be unable to get out of a burning building because they don’t have their fidget toy.

There has been no research or evidence that has proven any of the claims made by fidget toy distributers. There is no evidence that they improve concentration, focus, etc. for any children, NT or ND. In fact, some recent studies have shown no academic impact through use of fidget cube.

The designers just had a really good marketing team and many parents (and in the end, schools) bought into them. As such, no, they are nowhere near glasses nor wheelchairs.

Some people, like those with certain ADHD profiles, like to fidget in general, though this doesn't necessarily improve concentration. For those, having something discreet to fidget with can help lower the impact on those around them. For example, squeezing and stretching blutack is less impactful than repeatedly clicking a pen. Many fidget toys are not discreet so they aren't even helpful there.

In my post - I refer to all of these under fidget toys. I don’t specifically mean bought plastic ones.

I think they can be very useful and necessary for some people.

Comparing them to wheelchairs is just obviously ridiculous.

Glasses - well it depends. My DH can't see well enough to drive even with his glasses, without them he's seriously impaired. On the other hand I could manage ok without my glasses for a bit. I wouldn't put my glasses on the same level as a wheelchair!

In general, I don't think any kind of comparison is useful. And there's no need for people to say they're like wheelchairs, it's not like that's the only alternative to them being plastic tat. It does more harm to their argument if they start drawing that comparison imo.

Surely it depends on the disruption and who is disrupting no?
I'm autistic and would go insane having to listen to a constant clicking or seeing someone fiddling out the corner of my eye especially if I was trying to listen/ learn.
I was on a train once and a child had some clicky thing that was like buttons you just kept pressing in and out. Normally I have my noise cancelling headphones but I had forgotten them. So I had to move carriages. I couldn't have coped. But luckily I could move. If I was at school there wouldn't be anywhere to go. And I obviously couldn't put noise cancelling headphones on at school as then I couldn't hear.
So I never understand why some people's needs trump others. I don't mind people having whatever aids they need. As long as those aids don't have a detrimental effect on others with other disabilities.

Sure, but I think the OP meant specifically marketed fidget toys - fidget spinners, clicky cubes etc. I've been teaching since 2007. I've always given children who need them concentration/movement aids in the form of everyday items. 'Inventing' specific fidget toys is all about money.

Apologies - I was coming at this entirely from a school setting point of view, where I've never heard anyone complain about or question a child using a wheelchair.

When you're out in public do people really expect you to just leave your wheelchair at home?! Or I suppose they expect you to stay at home with the wheelchair. People are just awful sometimes.

For some children they are just a toy. For some children they prevent self harm. For some they prevent meltdowns during transitions. For some they enable children to focus at school so they are able to learn. There may be many other ways they help children, that is just what I have experienced.
So for some, no they aren't the same. For some they absolutely are the same as glasses and wheelchairs as they enable them children to be safe, manage daily life and learn.
They have actually been around for a long time (rubix cube, stress balls) but it was just a few years ago they became a mainstream craze.

I have rarely met a child in the school I work in for who fidget toys actually helped. They're just a fad which hopefully will go out of fashion. Most kids who are given them them focus on the toy to the detriment of their learning.They either can't stop looking at them and so don't look at anything the teacher is showing them, or they swing them round, throw and catch them, distract others with them, break them into bits spilling goo, beads etc. everywhere.

Give them a bit of blue-tac

So nobody is allowed to fiddle out of the corner of your eye. 😂Good luck in any classroom. My daughter has autism too and needs sensory and fight aids. It’s in her EHCP and prescribed by an Ed psych and an NHS ND psych.

I think a bonus of fidgets become more widely used is those that do need them don’t find themselves feeling embarrassed to use them anymore which is a positive

Ooh look another neurodivergence bashing post !! Must be all of five minutes since the last one!! 🤬

My dd uses fidget aids given to her by the team supporting her . She has a plastic link thing she twists round and is invaluable. She can’t access hospital treatment or long periods of sitting without it.

I know. Report. I have.

Fidgets help my DD but then do does a piece of blu-tack

Glasses and wheelchairs improve the quality of people's lives and in some instances a wheelchair could be a life saver whereas a fidget toy can not be compared with something of that magnitude.

It's almost like comparing a kids toy to a life saving drug.

Theres' no comparison.

If you had worked with people with severe development disabilities you would know that it actually could prevent them getting out of a building.

Why is that funny? Your daughters disability means she can't sit still or concentrate easily. Mine means I can't tolerate distractions. So yes if I was a child at school now my education would suffer if I had someone near me clicking aids.
Obviously there's ways to sort this out. Your child wouldn't be able to have anything that made noise and I would be sat in front of anyone that had fidget aids so I couldn't see them.
But your response is to laugh at the disability of others. No wonder people get annoyed at these fidget toys when people seem to think it's their right to use whatever they want when they want. All disabilities should be considered. And yes that might mean compromise from others with disabilities at times.