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More and more research supports fidgets and how they can enhance performance. ADDitudemag.com just recently came out with an article by Roland Rotz and Sarah Wright on the effectiveness of fidgets to focus.
John Ratey, M.D., in his book Spark discusses the increase in the levels of the neurotransmitters (dopamine and norepinephrine) when physical activity is involved. These chemicals are key players in focus and attention. So often, students are figeting with pens, pencils, paperclips and other objects and they are doing so for a reason.
Multi-tasking (which incorporates fidgets) can lead to poor performance if certain factors are involved. Sydney Zentall, Ph.D., of Purdue University, states that an activity that uses a sense other than that required for the primary task can actually enhance performance in children with ADHD. Enter fidgets!
Fidgets are actually a noun and can be just about anything so long as it is not using a sense required for your primary task and is usually described as a mindless activity you can do while working on a primary task. Fidgeting is the activity that includes movement. Movement is a key piece in activating the ADHD wired brain but often a piece shunned in structured school classrooms.
Educators often bind movement with long lectures and figuratively pin students behind desks for long periods of time. It’s time to officially bring fidgets into the classroom.
Actually they have been there for a very long period of time! The student, who doodles through the lecture, or continually taps a foot or pencil, is the primitive, yet still very effective, fidgeter of old.
As a strong proponent of using fidgets of many kinds within the classroom, I have successfully incorporated these as accommodations for IEP/504’s to help a child focus and ultimately achieve. There are many versions that can be used as strategies, as long as they are not disruptive to others and are not using the same senses.
These fidgets can include the doodling of old or more current versions including some of the crazy pen and pencil figures, soft pliable and quiet spongy animal characters or something as simple as a paperclip.
Movement is the key to brain activation. The uniquely wired ADD/ADHD brain is under stimulated and will latch on to a million things other than the task at hand. Fidgeting is a tool to keep the distractions at a minimum resulting in student achievement and higher self-esteem.
It’s time for fidgets to join the classroom for good!
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