Fidget Spinners have become one of the hottest toy crazes in America with kids bringing them to sporting events, hangouts, and even to school.
Debbie McAdams, Metro Nashville Public Schools' executive director of exception education said that while many view the Fidget Spinners as toys, they can actually be a helpful learning tool.
"Fidgets, manipulatives, have been around forever, it's something we promote in our district," McAdams explained. "They've just become more popular and they just always continue to change in style and shape."
Fidgets can come in the form of spinners, stress balls, putty, or other stress-relieving items.
Fidgets are targeted at children on the autism spectrum, children with ADHD, and children with anxiety, to help them focus, but they can be beneficial to all students.
"We want to see buckets of fidgets in classrooms, general education classrooms, special education settings where they can reach and grab a fidget if they need it to help focus," McAdams said, adding that fidgets can be beneficial to adults as well.
Babs Tierno, executive director with Autism Tennessee, said her 7-year-old autistic son uses a Fidget Spinner as well as other fidgets, and she's happy that people are using them and paying attention to their intended use.
"I'm actually grateful for these crazy little toys, because it's giving autism a platform," Tierno said, adding that fidgets are more important than most people realize. "It's more of a tool to entertain the hands so the mind is free to focus and learn."
Because of the benefits, Tierno and others hope that people don't abuse fidgets in classrooms and instead keep them available as tools instead of distractions or nuisances.
"For every person who is just playing with one, there is a child who is using it because they need to," Tierno said.
