The popular media is getting involved, too. For example, one article from The National states:

“The spinner has also proved to be a valuable tool for those who work with special-needs students.”

Another article from CNN quotes Elaine Taylor-Klaus, co-founder of ImpactADHD:

“Promoting fidgeting is a common method for managing attention regulation… for some people [with ADHD], there’s a need for constant stimulation. What a fidget allows some people – not all people – with ADHD to do is to focus their attention on what they want to focus on, because there’s sort of a background motion that’s occupying that need.”

What does the science say?

Despite their rise in popularity, there does not seem to be solid scientific evidence that these toys help with attention issues. For example, Scott Kollins stated in a recent NPR article:

“I know there’s lots of similar toys, just like there’s lots of other games and products marketed towards individuals who have ADHD, and there’s basically no scientific evidence that those things work across the board.”

Kollins notes that because there’s such a large number of children with ADHD, and a lot of parents are searching for help, it makes them vulnerable to marketing ploys like the fidget spinners.

We tried to look for evidence that fidget spinners really do help learning. But what we found was scientists talking about how the spinners could help in theory – but no empirical studies to back up these assertions (a search for “fidget spinners” and “ADHD” on Google Scholar yielded one hit: an unpublished honors thesis).

In fact, sensory treatments – which include the use of gadgets such as fidget spinners – do not appear to be consistently effective for treating disabilities (1); although occupational therapists do now frequently suggest this type of treatment, the science appears to lag behind in terms of evidence of effectiveness (2).

Should you ban these from your home or classroom?

Toy fads like the fidget spinner are not new. For example, this article notes that the rapid popularity, media attention, and concerns over the fidget spinners are similar to historical toy fads (e.g., the hula hoop). We searched to see if toys like the hula hoop or the yo-yo were ever passed off as toys to help students focus and learn, and we found some interesting things. For example, this article suggests that non-neurotypical children learn to hula hoop because it is an activity that they can do with others, and could promote social skills among these kids. This advice isn’t special to the hula hoop itself and is more about interaction with other kids than about the toy creating more focus in school. We didn’t, however, find huge advertisements claiming the hula hoop or the yo-yo helped kids focus. If they were proposed as tools to help children with ADHD, anxiety, stress, or focus, it at least wasn’t a prominent selling point of the toys. (If anyone has evidence to the contrary, please leave a comment!)

As with any fad, there are probably pros and cons to these. For example, Amy Pontes (from the Radio) noted that she liked that her daughter was playing with her fidget spinner with her friends rather than spending a ton of time on screens. Some teachers have even used these to their advantage in their science classes to demonstrate principles of physics, like friction and the use of ball bearings to reduce friction. See also this article on the physics behind fidget spinners.

However, some teachers have noted that these toys are more of a disruption in the classroom because they make noise and pull students’ attention away from the content. Some schools in Minnesota and Massachusetts have actually banned them:

(View the video below, or click this link)