Assistive Technology for Fidgeting: The Squidget
Fidgeting
Everyone does it - we all reposition our bodies, tap a foot aimlessly, click a pen repeatedly, or flip a pencil to stay focused. Fidgeting behaviors take different forms but they can all be characterized as repetitive motor movements to sustain attention, relieve discomfort, decrease stress or feelings of anxiety, or fend off boredom.
When your mind wanders, so does your ability to pay attention to what you’re supposed to be focusing on. Research has shown that, as your attention decreases, your time on task does as well, and your memory for whatever you may be trying to learn decreases too.
How Do You Fidget?
If you’re an adult in a conference room, it’s likely that you’ve developed a discreet way to stay alert so that your fidgeting doesn’t disturb the people around you. Maybe you fidget with a small paperclip on a desk, or click your pen cap on and off. Doing something subtle with your hands helps you stay alert to the conversation happening around you.
If you’re a person with anxiety, attention deficit disorder, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD, or trichotillomania, repetitive movements may or may not be as discreet or controllable. For these people, diagnoses underlie their fidgeting behaviors and the extent to which they fidget may be self-injurious, socially stigmatizing, and in need of redirection.
Here are some common fidgeting behaviors:
foot tapping
body rocking
pencil tapping
pen clicking (pen cap or click on/off)
flipping/twirling small objects (i.e. paperclip)
deep nail pressure stimulation
hair twirling
hair pulling - facial hair, body hair, head
rubbing textures
twirling buttons on your shirt
rolling an object on a hard surface
Researching Fidgeting
Research conducted by Farley, Risko, and Kingstone highlighted the link between sustained attention, retention of aurally presented lecture content, time on task, and fidgeting behaviors. They found “that fidgeting increases with time on task...as attention decreases with time into a lecture, fidgeting, as a potential route to enhance attention...increases.” This study focused on neurotypical participants.
Barash found that people fidget more while under stress, and Mohiyeddini et al. found that fidgeting appears to mediate the experience of perceived stress in people. The negative relationship between stress and memory has been well documented in research. Now, consider this information from the perspective of someone who has an anxiety disorder, OCD, or their central nervous system is perceiving stress more so than what is considered typical. When we talked about different variations or levels of intensity of fidgeting, these studies are important to keep in mind.
Fidgeting is often associated with people who have a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder because of the hyperactivity that is commonly observable. Now recall how often teachers or adults prompt students with ADHD to sit still, calm down, or stay seated. In a 2015 study published by the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, hyperactive movements associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder were found to help people focus better. Another study published in the Journal of Child Neuropsychology, found that, since hyperactivity is a natural state for children with ADHD, preventing them from fidgeting actually became a distraction and children were better able to learn when allowed to fidget.
The question now becomes, how do you redirect potentially disruptive fidgeting behaviors while still allowing for the necessary and self-regulating movements?
The Squidget
The Squidget Company has developed a product in line with the evidence-based connections between fidgeting, attention, stress, and performance. They have identified the need to “help the different brain to redirect, refocus, calm, center, and succeed” and have designed a fidget tool that directly supports eight common fidgeting behaviors.
Jerry Snee, the “Chief Squidgeter,” deliberately emphasizes that the Squidget is not a toy, but a well-crafted tool to enable participation.
The Squidget User
The Squidget was developed with specific people in mind to promote productivity and redirect potentially harmful, disruptive fidgeting behaviors associated with:
ADHD
Autism
Anxiety
Tourette’s Syndrome
Trichotillomania
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
While we talk often about classroom fidgets for students with sensory needs, there are not many appropriate products that older teens and adults would find age-appropriate. The Squidget is about the size of a quarter at its base, making it a discreet solution for the workplace or high-school/college classroom that allows one adult-sized hand to manipulate the Squidget while the other hand is free to be functional.
Squidget Fidgeting Functions
Through their research, Squidget has identified eight common fidgeting behaviors:
pen clicking,
texture rubbing,
button twirling,
tab flicking/spinning,
feathering pages,
hair twirling,
pencil rolling,
deep nail pressure.
Each side of the Squidget is designed to serve the sensory functions of these repetitive movements and the company is working to expand their line of products from the original version, the S.O.A.P. (Squidget On A Pen), to a customizeable tab-version.
Squidget as Assistive Technology
The Squidget has been specifically designed to be relevant for users who genuinely need to redirect fidgeting behaviors. By providing a safe, meaningful, discreet solution for the need to fidget, the Squidget has aligned itself with the principles of assistive technology to improve the capabilities of people.
Assistive technology (AT) is any product, equipment, software program and/or system that enhances learning, working, and daily living for persons with disabilities. This could range from low tech tools like pencil grips, fidget tools, or eyeglasses, to high tech supports like motorized wheelchairs, communication devices, and computer software.
No matter what the tool, the goal of assistive technology is to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of people with disabilities (ATIA). If a person requires a certain tool to be independent, participate to a fuller extent, or communicate in any form, it is considered assistive technology.
Assistive technology enables independence and function for people with different abilities. It’s the difference between a fidget spinner toy craze and a fidgeting tool that allows someone to fully engage and participate. Assistive technology makes things possible. We all benefit from technology but people with disabilities may require technology to participate, show what they know, or be more independent!
Any good assistive technology specialist knows, the design and use of AT tools is ever-evolving as the user’s needs change. Squidget, Inc. knows this to be true as well. They have production models that accommodate for textures, materials, and oral sensory needs based on feedback from users who want to further customize their Squidgets to meet individual needs. This is not simply a one-size-fits all product approach which makes this an excellent AT tool for people who rely on fidget tools to replace very specific self-harming or distracting repetitive behaviors.
For more information on Squidget and to see if it meets your need to fidget, check out their website here.
While the Squidget company has been generous to share their products with us and has sponsored this therapeutically-informed review, all of our impressions and thoughts are our own.