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...

See my previous post...!

Ekphrasis - we do have chewlry but apparently it doesn't give him the right sensory input. Just clothes mainly.

weebarra is it natural fibres or synthetic needed for the chewing? Synthetic fibres often 'squeak' when rubbed between the teeth. Natural fibres give chewy bits.

The cubes are definitely much better for genuine mindless and not distracting fiddling. My favourite side is the one that simply has a dimple in it.

Wonky chairs are definitely not less distracting, unless you're in a carpeted room. in a hard floored science lab a wonky stool is clunk clunk clunk clunk ad nauseum - and that's just the one I'm sitting on!

DS1's special school is fundraising for one of these chairs!
demandequipment.com/inclusivesports/sensory-shell-chair

I'd be a nightmare with a wonky chair. I somehow always found the wonky chair in classes and would inevitably be told to move

Ok @YoniFucker so the friends do it and then the person who did something brill does it

Thank you for explaining

elephant - I will have to ask him!

My school have banned them now which I'm pleased about as I teach science and they sound like a gas tap!

They might help one child but they're incredibly distracting to the other 29...
exactly
my school has zero tolerance - so today we were told as well as permanent confiscation, is now a Friday after school detention.

DD 'found' one at school today. I have had a play, I will turn this into a Y 11 revision session on bearing surfaces, race bearings etc comparing them to the bearings in skateboard wheels and BMX wheels. The bearings in the spinners have no load upon them and so are near to perpetual motion. the arms are weighted so gravity helps. I think.

I just love how many students suddenly need them "to help me concentrate".

Children who have an actual need for a fidget device have used other things for years, none of them so disruptive ad fidget spinners.

They've finally been banned at my school today. Children with a genuine need have always been allowed fidget toys that don't make noise/distract others.

Anna, there are loads of other far less distracting things that children with SEN can use to help them concentrate! These just make our bloody difficult jobs even harder.

One of my boys was using them as a weapon last week - they've now thankfully been banned

We don't make their chairs wonky, we put wobble boards under their feet. Works a treat.

That sounds interesting Lowdoor can you do a link or a diagram please?

Dd2 just draws on her hand. Comes home with a different design every day. Seems to work for her, and not too distracting.

As fidget spinners are being banned in schools across the country...

my son appears to be attending the only school twisted enough to be encouraging the use of fidget spinners in class. they asked the children to vote and all but two voted for fidget spinners to be allowed in class for one week.

WTF?!?!?!?

not one child in the class is autistic, and one with ADHD was one of the children who voted against as he finds it intolerably distracting. the other child being mine who is more sensible than the teacher it seems.

never

Maybe it will turn in to a lesson on blindly voting for what seems like a nice idea without considering the consequences!

Or maybe yes, your son's school is 🦇💩 crazy...

We, as a staff are voting on it on Monday, whether to ban spinners altogether or just in lessons. I have just heard every bloody excuse from students ' It's on my IEP/passport' or 'It helps my dyslexia'. No, you put them away when I ask you to. ARRRGGHHHH.

never
Sounds truly awful.

I bet they also use "student voice" to plan their CPD sessions. Looking forward to the teachers being told 'student voice says they find they learn best when they are allowed to use their phones to find things out rather than actually think for themselves and work it out / you know listen to a trained specialist explain... because Google is good one size fits all but all lessons must have 5 differentiated worksheets'

Why is there a problem with kids enjoying them outside of lessons?

They've been around for at least three weeks at my school and I've seen one in my lesson and I confiscated it till the end of the day. My students know I absolutely will take anything they shouldn't be using in lesson so 99% don't even go there.

I just asked them whether they would expect to be able to play with toy cars or barbies during lessons. Every kid was like "yeah good point".

Frogs
I just asked them whether they would expect to be able to play with toy cars or barbies during lessons. Every kid was like "yeah good point".
I don't think this line will work with Y9 students

What seems to be making this worse is that parents and children seem to have the idea that these are 'therapeutic' rather than collectable toys. They don't help them focus on me, they focus on the toy, doing tricks etc.
In the week or so before they were banned, there were already multiple issues with them being lost, stolen or traded in addition to disruption in lessons. I've told them if I find any more next week I'll keep it until after half term!

I can't give out blutac as there is a huge prison-cigarette-style black market in blutac in our school. Children steal it from around the school, too, so this way if I see them with it I know they nicked it! I got some stress balls instead.

My DD (y4) had had half her adult front tooth knocked out with one. And she doesn't even own one, it was in the playground, being spun by someone else.

We've not had any complaints about when being banned in lessons. No kids claiming they need it for any SEN. They seem to be easing off slightly...