In today’s digital age, screens are everywhere, from TVs and tablets to smartphones and computers. For many families, screen time has become a regular part of daily life. And with the right strategies, screen time can become a valuable tool to support your child’s communication skills.
My name is Jessica Abawag, and I’m a speech language pathologist and owner of Fluens Children’s Therapy. We have locations in Tacoma, Washington, and Columbia, Tennessee. Our clinic provides speech therapy for kids aged just 18 months to 18 years. Today, we’re going to talk about the ever-controversial topic of screen time, but most importantly, we’re going to talk about how screen time can impact a child’s speech and language development.
Sometimes, Screen Time Has to Happen
I think at this point, most parents know that screen time at a very young age is not recommended. Typically, it’s recommended to wait until a kid is about three years of age before you introduce screen time. And even then, between the ages of three and five years old, you really want to limit the amount of screen time that a child has.
All of that being said, we are not here to shame anybody, and we understand that sometimes screen time is used by families in order to get things done. For instance, on a long road trip, or maybe you needed to be able to cook dinner and keep your kids occupied.
We’re not here to shame anybody, but we’re here to provide some information on how, if it is something you choose to do with your children, you could make that screen time a little bit more engaging. It can even be used to enhance your child’s speech and language development.
However, Screen Time Can Be Used More Effectively
The real big thing with screen time is that it’s such a passive activity. When you’re just having a child sit in front of a computer, an iPad, a TV, or a phone, and they’re just watching or consuming something, they’re not getting that interaction and communication with another person that leads to communication development.
For kids under five years old, that is really that prime time where they are soaking up everything like a sponge. During that time, we really want to get those neurons firing and to encourage and enhance their language development.
How to Make Screen Time an Active Learning Experience
Here are some suggestions that you can use at home to make screen time a more active experience to help your child build their speech and language skills:
#1: Watch More Interactive Content
One thing that you can do is look into more interactive shows. For example, shows like Blue’s Clues or Dora the Explorer, where the characters will pause to wait for the child to repeat something or answer a question.
It’s somewhat like an interaction with a character in the TV show or cartoon, and they’re expecting the child to respond. That is one way that you could look into making screen time a little bit more interactive.
#2: Watch the Show with Your Child
The best way to make screen time more interactive is to have an adult or another individual sitting with a child who can engage with the child and talk about what’s being watched. You can do things like ask questions about what’s in the show.
Most things can be paused these days, whether it’s a streaming service or something on YouTube or an iPad. You could pause the show to talk about what just happened, i.e., “Oh, what was your favorite part of that part of the show?” If a kid is even younger, you could talk about colors or just naming things in the show.
Now they’re not just passively consuming something. They have another individual with them talking about the show, and that gives them an opportunity to still enjoy the show, but also get that communication and language enhancement.
#3: Interact with the Show Yourself
If you’re watching one of those interactive shows where they’re doing a dance or a song, where there’s some movement that’s supposed to be imitated, you can take part in it, too. You as the parent or caregiver can stand up and show the child what they’re supposed to do.
You can make sure that your child is actually doing the actions and not just sitting back passively and watching the show. That’s another great way to make screen time more interactive.
Reach Out to Fluens Children’s Therapy for An Assessment
Those are all things that you can do during screen time that can help with your child’s speech and language development so that it’s not just a passive activity. And if you’re noticing that your child is struggling with using words or understanding language or even pronouncing sounds correctly, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We would be happy to help.