education comes to Education students found new ways to build children's sensory skills. L isa Bryant, assistant professor of education, said she believed "fidgets" were a unique teaching tool her students could utilize to understand the sensory needs of children and adults in a learning environment. Bryant introduced an assortment of fidgets with various functions into her class time and encouraged her students to choose one that best stimulated their minds. The students were given the opportunity to interact with their fidgets throughout Bryant's lectures. "A common misconception about fidgets is that they are simply toys that will create distraction within the classroom, when their purpose is really meant to provoke focus, energy and concentration," Bryant said. "In reality, most of us are more kinesthetic learners than we want to allow or than other people let us realize." Senior communication sciences and disorders major Lea Buchanan, a student of Bryant's with a minor in special education, said she believed many teachers and professors pressured students to sit still and listen quietly. "It was so interesting that a teacher would hand out bags full of putties, foams and more and told us to keep one to play with them during her class,"Buchanan said. "I really experienced the calming effects that they had on me while I was learning." Bryant said she wanted students in her classes to experience the benefits of fidgets firsthand so they could incorporate them into their teaching careers. 96 "A big fallacy among teachers and college professors is that just because somebody is not looking at them doesn't mean they are not paying attention," Bryant said. Senior special education major Katie Tracy said she wanted to normalize the use of fidgets in the classroom to build a bridge between special and regular education classes. "I think more and more students are being diagnosed with disabilities, and they are still being placed in regular classes," Tracy said. "If fidgets were an everyday resource in the classroom, the use of them to channel anxiety or fatigue wouldn't seem so strange." As Tracy learned more about the use of fidgets, she said she pictured scenarios where a fidget could have been useful when she was student teaching. "I was working with a kid who was on the [autism] spectrum, and I realized that he liked the way liquids flowed, so I knew he would have enjoyed a fidget that incorporated that," Tracy said. Buchanan said she hoped to incorporate the use of fidgets into her speech pathology career as she worked with clients who were diagnosed with different neurological disorders or delays. "I think my patients will be so much more receptive to therapy if they have easy access to something that could soothe whatever sensory deficit they may have," Buchanan said. story by Caroline Lea
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