# "Fidgit Spinners" marketed as therapy devices for "ADD, ADHD, Anxiety, and Autism" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188 "2017-06-17T13:14:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/1 "2017-06-17T13:14:15Z")
I loved gyroscopes as kid and to this day I like engineered spinning things as much as anyone but the appeal of a handheld fidgit spinner" (for me) is going to get worn out in a few minutes. In looking at Amazon these devices are being marketed with all sorts to therapy claims. I have focus issues and always have, but I don’t see these devices as being “therapeutic” if I’m bored. Is there anything to this. Are “Fidgit Spinners” really going to calm down autistic kids and help ADD kids focus? [Giggle Hands Fidget Spinner Toy Stress Reducer - Perfect For ADD, ADHD, Anxiety, and Autism Adult Children](https://www.amazon.com/Giggle-Hands-Fidget-Spinner-Reducer/dp/B06ZXR87MX/ref=sr_1_18?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1497704051&sr=1-18&keywords=Fidget) [TOYK fidget toys,spinner fidget toys The Anti-Anxiety 360 Spinner Helps Focusing Toys [3D Figit] Premium Quality EDC Focus Toy for Kids & Adults - Stress Reducer Relieves ADHD Anxiety With LED lights](https://www.amazon.com/TOYK-spinner-Anti-Anxiety-Spinner-Focusing/dp/B071J4XJL1/ref=sr_1_17?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1497704051&sr=1-17&keywords=Fidget) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/2 "2017-06-17T13:18:00Z")
[Earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=825439). ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/3 "2017-06-17T13:30:19Z")
I read a post from somene on reddit who said that playing with a fidgit spinner helps with her trichotillomania. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/4 "2017-06-17T15:06:38Z")
It’s a fun little device that people with ADD and the like might enjoy. That doesn’t make it therapy per se. The caviar is empty. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/5 "2017-06-17T15:18:00Z")
Some kids really do focus better with them. Other kids have already found some effective and non-disruptive fidgeting that works for them, and so adding another one won’t help. Yet other kids aren’t helped by fidgeting at all. And of course, there are a lot more “normal” kids who don’t need any therapy at all, and just play with them because they’re (currently) cool and they’re something they can play with at school without getting in trouble. Give it another year or two and the fad will probably pass, and 90% of the kids using them will stop, but they’ll probably still continue to be used therapeutically by a few. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/6 "2017-06-17T16:24:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Some kids really do focus better with them. Other kids have already found some effective and non-disruptive fidgeting that works for them, and so adding another one won’t help. Yet other kids aren’t helped by fidgeting at all. And of course, there are a lot more “normal” kids who don’t need any therapy at all, and just play with them because they’re (currently) cool and they’re something they can play with at school without getting in trouble. > > Give it another year or two and the fad will probably pass, and 90% of the kids using them will stop, but they’ll probably still continue to be used therapeutically by a few. I’ve seen then in action, and the problem is the students only focus on the spinner, not their work, and so do the kids around them. The claims that they help kids focus only come from marketers, not [experts](http://www.newsweek.com/fidget-spinners-help-anxiety-adhd-609307). > [@](#): > > They have become pervasive in middle school classrooms, where kids use them not to hone their attention to their studies, but to distract from them. Other children using them as well only adds more distraction. [And this:](http://www.npr.org/2017/05/14/527988954/whirring-purring-fidget-spinners-provide-entertainment-not-adhd-help) > [@](#): > > “They do make a noise,” she says. “When you have 10 or 15 in a room, it’s just this whirring and it’s an irresistible siren call for everyone else to turn around and look at whoever has it out, and [it’s] completely distracting.” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/7 "2017-06-17T16:58:03Z")
Some of our local schools ended up banning them in classrooms. My own theory is that these children who have been raised with hand held devices and texting all the time cannot keep their hands still. My great-niece did student teaching this year, and she told me that, though devices are banned during class time, the children sit there moving their fingers the whole time. We have raised a generation of children who cannot keep their hands still. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/8 "2017-06-17T17:47:36Z")
True, but our great-great-great-grandparents also raised a generation of children who couldn’t keep their hands still. It’s nothing new; it just took until now to be recognized. A child of yesteryear who couldn’t keep their hands still might instead have played with a coin, or a rubber band, or a pair of knitting needles. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/9 "2017-06-17T18:37:47Z")
I tear up paper cups or pieces of paper into progressively smaller pieces if that’s all I have. I don’t see the appeal of the fidget spinner but I have a feeling if I picked one up I wouldn’t set it back down for a while. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/10 "2017-06-17T19:01:17Z")
Submitted without comment: > **[News](https://heavy.com/news/)** > > Today’s top breaking news and local news, delivered without bias or snark. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/11 "2017-06-17T19:29:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > True, but our great-great-great-grandparents also raised a generation of children who couldn’t keep their hands still. It’s nothing new; it just took until now to be recognized. A child of yesteryear who couldn’t keep their hands still might instead have played with a coin, or a rubber band, or a pair of knitting needles. But the difference is that a coin or rubber band is quiet and can be fiddled with without looking. The spinners require the “user” to look at them to get a good spin and make noise, causing a distraction not just for the child that has it but for others around as well. They don’t help focus on the task at hand, they draw focus away. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/12 "2017-06-17T23:26:21Z")
I don’t know about ADD/ADHD. I know autism. Fidgets of all sorts keep my daughter from cracking her knuckles (constantly) and picking at her skin and biting her cuticles until they’re bloody. She does better with a squeezy ball, the kind filled with sand, but she also tears them up on a regular basis. She loves her fidget spinner and at least for now it keeps her hands busy so her harmful self-stimming is minimal. I anticipate she’ll get bored with it eventually and go back to her old squeeze ball soon. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/13 "2017-06-18T15:03:03Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=825439). Update: I’ve had [this Fidgit Spinner](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQIKV53/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for almost a month and like [frobing](https://books.google.com/books?id=g80P_4v4QbIC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=to+frob&source=bl&ots=6ohtuykuQb&sig=M9QrMLnVkQe0okNlhEpBEAZ_G1s&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjiw8bl08fUAhVV52MKHa8FDysQ6AEIVDAH#v=onepage&q=to%20frob&f=false) it from time to time. Its satisfying, in a strange way. Kind of like cruizing the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/14 "2017-06-18T16:24:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Give it another year or two and the fad will probably pass, and 90% of the kids using them will stop, but they’ll probably still continue to be used therapeutically by a few. Or faster. [Fidget Spinners Are Over](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fidget-spinners-are-over/). ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/15 "2017-06-18T20:26:31Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > I don’t know about ADD/ADHD. I know autism. Fidgets of all sorts keep my daughter from cracking her knuckles (constantly) and picking at her skin and biting her cuticles until they’re bloody. > > She does better with a squeezy ball, the kind filled with sand, but she also tears them up on a regular basis. She loves her fidget spinner and at least for now it keeps her hands busy so her harmful self-stimming is minimal. I anticipate she’ll get bored with it eventually and go back to her old squeeze ball soon. Agreed. My son uses fidgets of various types. If he doesn’t have something innocuous to fidget with, then he turns to rocking his chair back and forth, picking his skin, changing his position in his seat constantly, pulling his clothing over his legs, over his head, and so on. A fidget helps him focus on school, and keeps him from being a distraction in the classroom. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/16 "2017-06-19T19:10:57Z")
> [@astro](#): > > “Fidgit Spinners” marketed as therapy devices for “ADD, ADHD, Anxiety, and Autism” So, they’ll work your A’s off? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/17 "2017-06-19T20:20:58Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Or faster. [Fidget Spinners Are Over](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fidget-spinners-are-over/). That sort of data doesn’t really track the end of a fad well. There’s a big bump at first when people are searching to learn more about a new thing. Then once most people know about it, the searches fade. But the fad may still be gaining traction. The first warning sign of a fad fading is declining sales. Although some fads reach a saturation point and most people have one already but are still actively using the item. I think Hula-hoops did this. The real test is when more spinners are being thrown into drawers never to be seen again than are being bought. Then it’s peaked. But data like that isn’t tracked by Google. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidgit-spinners-marketed-as-therapy-devices-for-add-adhd-anxiety-and-autism/789188/18 "2017-06-19T23:48:38Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > But the difference is that a coin or rubber band is quiet and can be fiddled with without looking. The spinners require the “user” to look at them to get a good spin and make noise, causing a distraction not just for the child that has it but for others around as well. They don’t help focus on the task at hand, they draw focus away. He was responding to someone bemoaning our creation of a generation of fidgety kids due to various electronic devices. It’s nonsense. Kids have always been fidgety and always will be. Any young animal is a bundle of energy until they crash from exhaustion. For most kids the nervous energy gradually dissipates as they mature. Spinners are banned in class at my kids’ school, and my 9 year old informs me that fidget spinners are old news.