Doctors suggest Fidget Spinners improve focus of children with ADHD

HOUSTON – Almost every kid wants a fidget spinner! The plastic toys are marketed as helping students with learning disabilities to better focus.

"It's huge, this is the biggest craze we've had in awhile," Shari Henderson, from Learning Express in Memorial City, said.

"I've been chasing these things down for about a week now, probably about 10 different stores, nobody has them," one dad at Learning Express said.

As they've become popular with kids nationwide, teachers say they're just a distraction.

"They're spinning them while teachers are trying to teach, and what's happening is it's a huge disruption," a special needs teacher said.

There have been reports of some schools across the country banning fidget spinners. KPRC checked with Houston, Pearland and Fort Bend Independent School District, all of which so far have no bans. One Fort Bend County school sent a letter home to parents asking them to not allow children to bring the toy to school.

Dr. Helene Sheena, with Kelsey Seybold Clinic in Tanglewood, said there is evidence to suggest allowing kids with learning disabilities to fidget will benefit their ability to focus.

"If you look at it as a fidget tool and not a fidget toy, if you're using it as a tool to sort of help you out to focus, it can be helpful for some children," Dr. Sheena said.

But, she says, there have to be guidelines.

"On who can use them, who can't use them, to realize it's not a toy, that if they're having to use them they need to probably be using them where they're out of sight," she said.

According to a study out of University of California (Davis), which was not looking specifically at fidget spinners but just small movements in general, concluded that physical activity, like bouncing on a ball chair or even chewing gum, seems to help some children to focus on difficult tasks.