Hi, I am new hear and hope someone can help. My Daughter is starting 7th grade and is worried how her fidgeting affects her classmates. We are looking for ways and devices that are discreet that she can fidget with in class.
Fidgeting Help: Hi, I am new hear and... - CHADD's ADHD Pare...
Fidgeting Help
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So my daughter has clay and several small squishy toys that she rotates, she also finds that smooth rocks that she can run her fingers over help too. We found some that have words on them like "friend" "hope", "wonder" and "dream". She likes to run her fingers over the word. Hope this helps!
There a number of tools that could help your child. Occupational Therapist are Specialist that could help you with this. One good reason for having an OT help with this is the teacher will welcome all strategies and learn alot from their assistance.
It also depends on your children preferences for texture and pressure. Here are a few ideas: a plastic/band under her desk to entertain her feet, soft of rough velcro, weighted blankets, lap pads, chewing gum, fidget spinners.. there are many and the OT can help deal with her teachers. It will be important the teacher knows that your daughter has a "medical" reason to use these not just becuase.
It will be important to have a 504 plan in order to help her the most.. you can get things like breaks ( maybe deliver something for the teachet) extended time on assignments when something can not be completed.. many more.
Hope these suggestions help..
Take care
Maybe some textured jewelry, like a necklace or bracelet or a fidget pen.
We did those squeeze balls for awhile until he started throwing them in the air during class!
It has to be something that is not noticeable so it doesn't distract. If she has an IEP I would let the teacher know, too, so they don't take it away.
Check out funandfunction.com they have folks you can chat with and make recommendations.
My child had been struggling for YEARS with ADHD and he has been using “sensory tools” (aka fidgets) for over 9 years now & he had to have some form of a sensory tool or he would be constantly in trouble for being a distraction. When I started researching years ago the different styles of fidgets it was hit & miss but it was before it became a huge fad. So I bought from a couple of companies and they worked great. Unfortunately shortly after that the fad hit, everyone wanted a Fidget, every student had one, they were loud, lit up & his school stopped allowing fidgets into the school district. When these were banned my son was constantly in trouble in his school, due to always being a distraction. I finally was about to give up and home school my child. I searched everywhere online trying to locate a “quiet fidget” that maybe I could get the principal to agree to but every Fidget we could locate the school district would not allow due to being a noisy distraction.. I was about to give up because I was constantly being called up to the school due to my son “was to disruptive” or “distracting his peers” and they would give him detention because he was “tapping his foot or a pen” or “twirling his hair to much” or “twisting paper or ripping” and I was ready to unenroll him from school and homeschool him myself. I strongly believed that fidgets / sensory tools were mandatory for my sons ADHD and I felt so lost when the school districts in our home town banned them.. Right when I was about to give up, I was told about a sensory tool company (Fidget Company) from my son’s school teacher, that the school districts actually would approve. I would love to share this information to other individuals who need sensory tools daily because I had searched for over a year trying to locate a quiet sensory tool and was not a distraction. I am pretty sure many parents have experienced the same situation & issues locating a Fidget that a school district would approve because it’s practically impossible! So I definitely wanted to share this information to help anyone.
I purchased the Fidget on Etsy and the store name is FidgetMeCrazy at this link: