How screen time might impact early child language development
We've spoken to a speech and language therapist from Salisbury to find out
How parents engage with their children during screen time is critical to their development, a speech and language therapist from Salisbury has told us.
Screens have become increasingly prevalent in our lives over the last decade, with their impacts still being fully understood.
And with Christmas fast approaching, children may find themselves with a screen more often than usual, while parents are busy making preparations for the festive period.
It's especially crucial for parents to engage with their children when they're under two-years-old, as screens can affect a child's development of language.
Learning through response
Greatest Hits Radio spoke to Kimberley Saunders, who runs Ready Steady Talk in Salisbury and she explained to us that screens are simply unable to replicate the responses a human can give to a child in those formative years.
"(Children) learn language through having a response, and trying again, and having that response shape their future attempts.
"That's missing when you're watching a screen."
If children are making these attempts to communicate and develop their language without a positive response, it is possible that they will learn to make less noise as it's not being responded to.
Screens can be a useful tool
Kimberley explained to us that screens can be a helpful tool in triggering interactions with our children, by watching programmes together.
"If they're making these attempts and these noises while they're watching something, and you're there with them, and you're noticing that and responding to that, then they're still getting that level of interaction.
"(If) you're talking about it with them afterwards, then children are still developing those skills, just as they would have been if it was stimulated by a play scenario."
But, as with most things in life, balance is key.
"It's all about balance," Kimberley says, "if (screen time) is limited and outside of that time children are getting positive interactions and getting that support, then that's all that matters."