Those bloody fidget spinners!!

[LornaD40]

Have officially been banned in lessons now at our school. Had several end up on my desk on Friday. Now I understand why the kids love them. It is impossible to put them down!! I know they're supposed to help concentration but, I barely got anything done for constantly spinning it between my fingers (and nor did my poor colleagues due to the constant whirring). I'm hoping they'll get bored soon...

Marco, I love it!

As soon as teachers (and mums) start playing with them you know they are on their way 'out'

I am not a teacher but my role includes supporting secondary school students with mental health difficulties.

I bought a fidget spinner to see if it might helps students with high levels of anxiety.

I came back a couple of days later and my colleague (job share) is totally addicted to it!

As soon as teachers (and mums) start playing with them you know they are on their way 'out'

@slightly - you genius! That's all we need to do. Buy our own and wander the corridors spinning them. The kids will soon ditch theirs. Should we start dabbing at each other too?

My daughter has been given some by the guidance manager this week and given permission to use it in class. Does anyone know why this may be? They're banned apparently.

I am a bit cross at teachers attitude to fidget spinners. My dd finds they really help her. It's long established that 'fiddle Roy's' help kids with SEN. She had her fidget spinner confiscated last week

They might help one child but they're incredibly distracting to the other 29...

Oh Lord, dabbing! Still very annoying.

We also have had blue tac peni in our school too.

Please explain what dabbing is?

@RTKangaMummy

Has your child ever done this to you?

@Annahibiscuits
Does her IEP say that a fidget spinner will help? If so, I'd let her keep it. If not, it would be confiscated.

Sanctimonious killjoys, the lot of you.

I'm starting to think I, a grown adult would benefit from one of these I find I'm constantly fiddling with my hair, my phone, strings on my hoodie etc. I don't even realise I'm doing it half the time and when I'm anxious it's even worse...

Can totally see why they'd be distracting in a school setting though. They should only be allowed in lessons for the kids who genuinely need and benefit from them, backed up with a letter from the school SENCO or similar and non of this LED light up business.

@YoniFucker oh ok

So sort of like usain bolt

No he hasn't but he is 21 years old so I guess too old for it

I am not around children or teenagers much any more and young people of 21+ don't really do these fads anymore

Thank you for explaining

Is it a way to dismiss what is being said to them?

Actually looking at it not really like Usain Bolt really

loops have a look at a sensory diet - some things aid concentration, others distract. It's working out what works for you. It's different for everyone, and everyone is a bit sensory even without ADD. E.g. Likes a deep pressure massage or likes a soft one. There's an awful lot of different approaches beyond fiddle things. Temple Grandin built herself a sort of squeeze box for example! Others may find chewing gum helps, or a pencil. Climbing, swinging, swimming, certain seats to sit on eg Pilates ball, listening to music - all senses. Generally if a sense is hyper stimulated, you need less input to calm, so e.g. Block out Noises and vice Versa if a sense is hypo stimulated. This is a bit basic though. Tight vests or bear hugs, weighted lap things are also good for concentration.

Re the spinners - our school are ordering them in! (But we are Sen!)

Totally understand why they're being banned, but DS1 has a fidget box in school to help him concentrate (and hopefully distract him from chewing his clothes to shreds) and a spinner would have been really useful for him. He has dyspraxia though so it would probably flown off and smashed a window/hit him in the face.

Banned those damn spinners, thankfully. A kid dabbed last week and I told him to stop it as it's really old by now. Surely that was a year or two ago? Bottle flipping drives me nuts.

As well as blue tack, another cheap (& les distracting) fiddle option is wedging some paper under a chair leg so that it will rock a little.

Weebarra - could he have a chewie or chewlry?

I confiscated two today, spinners are so much more fun than teaching. It took a while for the kids to persuade me to go back to teaching.

That's a good one Yoni!

What about pen pineapple 🍍 pen? Surely that's missing from the year?

Is it a way to dismiss what is being said to them?

Quite the opposite. In our school it's more of a mark of respect. So if someone did something really well they'd dab afterwards.

A child discovered he could draw circles with one last week. Note to self, introduce compasses.

Please balance the equation:
Playing with a spinner with two hands + pick a pen and do some work = learning.