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High Tech Blues: Children's Speech at Risk

© Agnes M. Bierbaum

It is dinner time, but the table is bare. The family has moved to the living room to consume their food in front of the TV. After dinner, the hum of computer games emanates from rooms throughout the house. This picture is replayed daily in millions of homes across Canada and the States, but no one asks how our obsession with computers, videos and television may be affecting our young people.

Recent research points to a steady decline in children's language skills. Jane M. Healy's book, "Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds -For Better and Worse", lists ten symptoms of computer addiction. Three of the ten affect the ability to engage in meaningful conversation. They include: social withdrawal and difficulty relating to peers or adults, lack of eye contact and language delay. Excessive use of computers, television and videos has revealed cumulative physical impairments of vision, wrist and back problems and overexposure to electromagnetic radiation. Research by the American Academy of Pediatrics cites television watching by children under two years of age as damaging to brain development. The Academy recommends that "total screen time (TV, video, computer) should be limited to one to two hours per day."

The impact of modern electronics on our lifestyles cannot be overstated. The hours once spent playing family games, sharing the details of the say's events and planning for tomorrow have been replaced be television and computers. We know that the age of electronics is here to stay. Now we must learn to control excessive screen time of the young child and to incorporate language and conversational skills, once learned routinely, into early childhood activities.

The following techniques can be used at, in nursery schools and in daycare centers to foster language development and conversation.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Take photographs of classroom activities, family outings and field trips. Mount the pictures on a bulletin board or on a portable easel, or paste them in a scrapbook that is accessible to the children. Use the photos as a basis for group discussion or a conversation center.

ART

Prominently display a model of an art or craft project. Encourage children to discuss what materials will be needed (i.e. paper, crayons, glue, scissors, colored yarn, paper plates, etc.)and how the design will be constructed. Family or school groups working together will encourage conversation and interaction.

GAMES

I SPY

Have a child describe something in the visual field of all who are playing the game (i.e. I see something white. It is on the shelf. It is sticky…) The participants begin to guess and the describer must acknowledge if they are correct or incorrect. Encourage the players to question and answer in complete sentences.

The copyright of the article High Tech Blues: Children's Speech at Risk in Early Childhood Education is owned by Agnes M. Bierbaum. Permission to republish High Tech Blues: Children's Speech at Risk in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.