Several articles published this year have suggested a relationship between TV and autism. I don’t pretend to be an expert on autism but I have cared for numerous children younger than 3 years.
My first rule in caregiving is “no TVâ€. In households where the parents use TV as a babysitter or as part of their reward system there is some reluctance on the part of the child to relinquish TV viewing but with the right timing and the suggestion of something better to do I receive their cooperation.
I consider that if I am expected to care for children it is an absolute waste of my time to be sitting and watching so-called ‘educational’ videos with them.
I don’t know when any intelligent adult last watched ‘educational’ television but it is no way to learn the language, or anything else for that matter, despite claims to the contrary by parents and educators.
Over the years there have been some great children’s TV programmes. ‘Reading Rainbow’ and ‘Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego’ to name just two. Both these programs showed adults clearly speaking on screen.
My sons watched those programs only after they had learned to speak and only on an occasional basis.
Many people simply do not understand the inherent challenges for an infant or child who watches too much TV. Modern infants often have a TV or DVD player in their bedrooms and are frequently put into their cribs at nap or bedtimes and an ‘educational’ video is put on.
Even the most earnest of researchers would be hard pressed to know how much time children under 3 are really spending in front of ‘educational’ TV or videos.
Parents have told me “my children don’t watch TVâ€. Once I became a caregiver for their children I was horrified to see that those very children watch endless DVD’s or recorded ‘educational’ TV programs.
Based on my observations I estimate that such children, when in the care of parents or other family members, may watch one or more videos/musicals (such as Disney cartoon musicals) in the morning hours, a video to fall asleep to for the afternoon nap and another video in the early evening hours. By my estimate that would be a minimum of 4 1/2 hours of TV-like material EVERY DAY!
That is a horrific amount of TV time. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV for those under 2! Nearly every middle class household now has a TV in every room. That means one in each child’s bedroom, one in the adult bedrooms and others in the various other common rooms in a house.
It’s also the easiest and cheapest babysitter of all.
But, just take a moment and watch a children’s cartoon program without the sound and you will soon see why it is that so many children aren’t learning to talk.
In learning to talk a child is examining every part of the adult’s facial movements – we don’t even know what an infant or toddler is absorbing by listening and watching our faces. Plenty of people are reading to their children, which is great, but what they forget is that they are depriving children of looking at living human faces whilst that person is talking. Children need to be spoken to face-to-face every day.
A minimum of 24 hours a week one-on-one face-to-face is needed to insure a young child develops speech and language appropriate to his/her age and ability. That’s a little over 3 hours each day with the same person – preferably a loving mother.
I don’t count time riding in the car or going to the store unless you make it an adventure. I suggest that very few children spend that much time with one parent each day or with a special and consistent caregiver.
Special needs children are spending bits of time with their various therapists many days of the week. If they just spent that time with one consistent loving caregiver, preferably their mother, many of their developmental delays would just fade away.
I have been that caregiver and am proud to say that no child left my care without being able to talk and communicate and any of those with speech and behavioral delays and deficits always end up cooperating with me and soon show lasting improvement in every area.
Turn the TV off!!