Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the latest craze hitting the schoolyard – fidget spinners. I’m going to take an unpopular stand here and say that they’re more toy than tool for most kids. There are definitely some kids that are helped by them but they can distract others and some brands of them are noisy enough to upset some kids on the spectrum. I’m not going to say never get your kid a fidget spinner, because if it works for your kid then it works for your kid, however I’ve seen more kids who are MORE distracted when using a spinner than if they had no fidget to use which is the opposite of the intended purpose. If you are getting one for your child with special needs, look for ones with the bearings enclosed, try it out first to see how the noise affects them (some are really quiet, others emit a low frequency hum that is quite annoying over time), and stay away from gimmicks such as LED lights and bluetooth speakers in the spinners. For the kids who spinners aren’t working for, there are other fidget toys that may be a better fit and aren’t banned in classrooms. Today I’m going to go through my fidget toy collection and post my top 5 recommended fidget toys for use in classrooms and at home.