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At Xmas I gave my wife <i>Animals in Translation</i> by the phenom,
Temple Grandin. She argues from animal observations that human babies
have to play with and manipulate physical objects, pointing out that
kids that have not held a pencil and drawn with it, cannot draw with
the cursor on a computer screen. She is worried about children who are
playing videogames and not outside playing in the physical world.<br>
<br>
I have two adult kids and two teens, and I got them all a new
trampoline for Xmas. It helps them keep their balance.<br>
Lynn<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D.
Solutions Consulting Group
166 East 5900 South, Ste. B-108
Salt Lake City, UT 84107
Tel: (801) 261-1412; Fax: (801) 288-2269
Check out our webpage: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.solution-consulting.com">www.solution-consulting.com</a>
Feeling upset? Order Get On The Peace Train, my new solution-oriented book on negative emotions.</pre>
<br>
<br>
Premise Checker wrote:
<blockquote cite="midPine.NEB.4.63.0512252101340.14301@panix3.panix.com"
type="cite">See Baby Touch a Screen. but Does Baby Get It?
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/national/15toys.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/national/15toys.html</a>
<br>
<br>
By TAMAR LEWIN
<br>
<br>
Jetta is 11 months old, with big eyes, a few pearly teeth -
<br>
and a tiny index finger that can already operate electronic
<br>
entertainment devices.
<br>
<br>
"We own everything electronic that's educational - LeapFrog,
<br>
Baby Einstein, everything," said her mother, Naira
<br>
Soibatian. "She has an HP laptop, bigger than mine. I know
<br>
one leading baby book says, very simply, it's a waste of
<br>
money. But there's only one thing better than having a baby,
<br>
and that's having a smart baby. And at the end of the day,
<br>
what can it hurt? She learns things, and she loves them."
<br>
<br>
New media products for babies, toddlers and preschoolers
<br>
began flooding the market in the late 1990's, starting with
<br>
video series like "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby." But
<br>
now, the young children's market has exploded into a host of
<br>
new and more elaborate electronics for pre-schoolers,
<br>
including video game consoles like the V.Smile and handheld
<br>
game systems like the Leapster, all marketed as educational.
<br>
<br>
Despite the commercial success, though, a report released
<br>
yesterday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, "A Teacher in the
<br>
Living Room? Educational Media for Babies, Toddlers and
<br>
Pre-schoolers," indicates there is little understanding of
<br>
how the new media affect young children - and almost no
<br>
research to support the idea that they are educational.
<br>
<br>
"The market is expanding rapidly, with all kinds of
<br>
brand-new product lines for little kids," said Vicky
<br>
Rideout, vice president of the Kaiser Foundation. "But the
<br>
research hasn't advanced much. There really isn't any
<br>
outcomes-based research on these kinds of products and their
<br>
effects on young children, and there doesn't seem to be any
<br>
theoretical basis for saying that kids under 2 can learn
<br>
from media.
<br>
<br>
"If parents are thinking, 'I need a break, I'll put my
<br>
4-year-old in front of this nice harmless video,' that's one
<br>
thing," she continued, "But if parents are thinking, 'This
<br>
is good for my 3-month-old, it will help her get ahead in
<br>
the world,' that's another."
<br>
<br>
In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended no
<br>
screen time at all for babies under 2, out of concern that
<br>
the increasing use of media might displace human interaction
<br>
and impede the crucially important brain growth and
<br>
development of a baby's first two years. But it is a
<br>
recommendation that parents routinely ignore. According to
<br>
Kaiser, babies 6 months to 3 years old spend, on average, an
<br>
hour a day watching TV and 47 minutes a day on other screen
<br>
media, like videos, computers and video games.
<br>
<br>
"These new media toys are growing and becoming quite
<br>
prevalent," said Claire Lerner, a child-development expert
<br>
at Zero to Three, a nonprofit advocacy group that includes
<br>
information about brain development on its Web site. "This
<br>
generation of parents grew up thinking technology was all
<br>
positive, so if they see their child looking happy, engaged
<br>
with what's on the screen, it's very seductive. But a group
<br>
of toddlers making up a story together is a much richer
<br>
learning experience than dragging things across a screen to
<br>
make a story. Children learn best in the context of
<br>
relationships."
<br>
<br>
While there is no research on the effect of the new
<br>
commercial products, earlier research has shown that
<br>
educational television can teach 3- to 5- year-olds
<br>
vocabulary and number concepts. Most child-development
<br>
experts, however, say that babies under about 2½ are not
<br>
sufficiently developed for such learning.
<br>
<br>
Still, many parents buy their babies toys designed for older
<br>
children, either believing that their children are unusually
<br>
advanced or hoping the toys will make them so.
<br>
<br>
Just minutes after spending $150 on a VideoNow player and
<br>
cartridges (ages 7 and up) at a Manhattan Toys "R" Us, Ms.
<br>
Soibatian holds Jetta up in her stroller to see if she is
<br>
interested in Learn Through Music Plus! (ages 2 to 5). At
<br>
first, Jetta gently bops the screen with her whole hand,
<br>
watching the flashing lights, but soon she notices the
<br>
buttons, the index finger goes out, and a delighted Ms.
<br>
Soibatian is ready to buy again.
<br>
<br>
"You're never too young to learn, and kids nowadays are more
<br>
advanced because of all these educational toys," said Iesha
<br>
Middleton, another parent shopping at Toys "R" Us. Ms.
<br>
Middleton's son will be 3 next month. "I tried to teach my
<br>
son his ABC's when he was 1, and I didn't get very far, but
<br>
with the Leapster, he learned A-Z really fast, and he can
<br>
count up to 50."
<br>
<br>
Even Sesame Workshop, long the torchbearer in children's
<br>
educational media, is moving into the infant market, with
<br>
new "Sesame Beginnings" DVD's for babies 6 months and up.
<br>
<br>
"There are all these babies watching videos, and we wanted
<br>
to address the reality that's out there and come up with
<br>
something that is at least appropriate," said Gary Knell,
<br>
Sesame's president. "Ours are about sharing and caring,
<br>
modeling good parenting, not the cognitive approaches that
<br>
are more appropriate for 3- or 4-year-olds. We won't be
<br>
making any boastful claims about school success."
<br>
<br>
Others have less restrained marketing: The "Brainy Baby -
<br>
Left Brain" package has a cover featuring a cartoon baby
<br>
with a thought balloon saying, "2 + 2 = 4" and promises that
<br>
it will inspire logical thinking and "teach your child about
<br>
language and logic, patterns and sequencing, analyzing
<br>
details and more."
<br>
<br>
The V.Smile video game system - a "TV Learning System"
<br>
introduced last year - features the motto "Turn Game Time
<br>
into Brain Time" and cartridges called "smartridges." The
<br>
V.Smile, named "Best Toy of the Year" at the toy industry's
<br>
2005 trade show, has a television ad where a mom tells her
<br>
children, "You'll never get into college if you don't play
<br>
your video games!" The game says it is designed for children
<br>
3 to 7.
<br>
<br>
There are, as yet, no reliable estimates of the size of the
<br>
market for such devices, but at toy stores nationwide, they
<br>
are selling briskly.
<br>
<br>
Educational toy companies say their products are designed
<br>
with the existing educational and developmental research in
<br>
mind but add that more research on media effects would be
<br>
helpful.
<br>
<br>
"There's nothing that shows it helps, but there's nothing
<br>
that shows it's does harm, either," said Marcia Grimsley,
<br>
senior producer of "Brainy Baby" videos. "Electronics are
<br>
part of our world, and I think that, used appropriately,
<br>
they can benefit children."
<br>
<br>
Ms. Rideout says parents need more help sorting through the
<br>
array of electronic media: "We have detailed guidelines for
<br>
advertising and labeling products like down pillows and
<br>
dietary supplements, but not for marketing education media
<br>
products," she said.
<br>
<br>
Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children's Technology Review,
<br>
has watched children play with many of the new products and
<br>
believes that many of them have great education potential
<br>
for older preschoolers.
<br>
<br>
"We spend a great percentage of our energy in preschool
<br>
teaching kids about symbols, and interactive electronics are
<br>
very good teachers of symbols," Mr. Buckleitner said.
<br>
"V.Smile is like a hyperactive nanny with flashcards. We had
<br>
a 4-year-old, on the cusp of reading, who was so excited
<br>
about finding words in the maze that she got addicted, in an
<br>
arcade-ish way, and wrote down 20 words on a piece of scrap
<br>
paper, then came and said, 'Look at my word collection.' I
<br>
asked if she could read them and she could. It was very
<br>
motivating for her."
<br>
<br>
It does not work that way when the toy does not fit the
<br>
child's developmental stage or pace: Mr. Buckleitner
<br>
remembers a 2-year-old playing with an interactive
<br>
electronic toy, but not understanding the green "go" button;
<br>
after coaching from her mother, when she touched a cow that
<br>
mooed, she was frustrated by the cow's continued mooing
<br>
while she touched five other pictures. "The design people
<br>
are still learning, so the technology will get better," Mr.
<br>
Buckleitner said.
<br>
<br>
Still, he concedes that in teaching small children, "There's
<br>
not an educator alive who would disagree with the notion
<br>
that concrete and real are always better."
<br>
<br>
Research bears that out. In a line of experiments on early
<br>
learning included in a research review by Dan Anderson, a
<br>
University of Massachusetts psychology professor, one group
<br>
of 12- to 15-month-olds was given a live demonstration of
<br>
how to use a puppet, while another group saw the
<br>
demonstration on video. The children who saw the live
<br>
demonstration could imitate the action - but the others had
<br>
to see the video six times before they could imitate it.
<br>
<br>
"As a society, we are in the middle of a vast uncontrolled
<br>
experiment on our infants and toddlers growing up in homes
<br>
saturated with electronic media," Mr. Anderson said.<br>
<pre wrap="">
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