Fad Treatments in Autism Intervention: An Evaluation of Fidget Spinners

New, unsubstantiated therapies for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that lack empirical support for their effectiveness seem to be introduced almost daily. These unproven therapies should be subjected to the methods of applied behavior analysis to experimentally evaluate their effectiveness. This study provides an empirical evaluation of a popular device, fidget spinners, that have been marketed as improving focus for individuals diagnosed with ASD. Four young children diagnosed with ASD participated; two receiving intervention and two peers not receiving intervention. The effects of the fidget spinner on auditory conditional discriminations were evaluated using a reversal design. The results indicated the fidget spinner was ineffective at improving auditory conditional discriminations for both participants. Following the ineffectiveness of the fidget spinners, a behavioral intervention was provided which resulted in improvements in auditory conditional discriminations for both participants.