Speech Matters – Speech & Language Pathology
April 2020      NEWSLETTER
 
Dear Clients,
I have decided to start up my newsletters again as a way to share information and provide support. I hope that you find them useful!
I hope that you are all well and coping with the current changes to our daily lives! Many of you may now be working from home and home schooling your children. This can be a challenge! Below is some information that you may find helpful!
Also, I plan to next send through links for useful websites to assist with home education. If you have any suggestions that you would like to share, please email them to me!
 
Technology
Also, it can be easy to over-use technology as a form of entertainment and also as a learning tool. Be careful about how much time you and your children spend using technology. A while ago, I attended a seminar on technology and the way it affects learning and behavior. Today’s technology is affecting us all on many levels. Technology is here to stay but we need to recognize how it can affect our lives and we need to self-regulate and control our use of it. When I talk about technology I am referring to phones, ipads, tablets, computers, tv …. any gadgets with screens.
Here are a few things to consider:
  • Children (and adults!) do not know how to cope with boredom. We have so much technology easily available that we are not learning how to simply chill out and day dream.
  • Children are relying on technology for information and this means that they are not committing information to memory. It is affecting children’s memory recall.
  • Techno tantrums are common for children and adults as technology increases dopamine levels (pleasure), provides lots of novelty, are never ending (games keep going!) and technology overloads the nervous and sensory systems.
  • Children are trying to ‘multi-task’ and split their attention across different tasks which just is not possible. They need to learn to focus on one task at a time. They are constantly being distracted by their ‘gadgets’.
  • Children’s attention spans are changing due to today’s technology.
  • We need to develop impulse control. Children and adults can’t help but respond to an sms, continually check mobiles and regularly go on the internet etc.
  • We are being overloaded with information through technology as is it is so readily available but that is having an effect on our attention skills. There is too much to process and it is being shown that the information is not being stored in the right parts of the brain for recall.
  • Technology externally affects attention – we get distracted by seeing our phones and ipads but we are also internally distracted as even when the item is out of sight we are still thinking about it!
  • There are many, many costs to using technology as it can affect us physically (ie. Car accidents), academically and socially. It can affect our self identity, our sleep, our ability to process and recall information. It can also affect the family life as children observe their parents using technology and try to imitate. In turn parents may be missing out on crucial moments of their child’s life.
  • Many children are being sleep deprived due to technology. They may be staying up late to play games or watch You Tube or they may simply be thinking about it all the time so that it affects their sleep. Use of Technology is also being seen to result in increased levels of anxiety.
Tips
Technology is here to stay so we need to work with it rather than ‘ban’ it.
  • Use tools that limit what sites your child can visit. You can download tools that stop your child from going from one app to another. You can lock them into using just one app so that they don’t spend hours on the ipad flitting from one game to another or from one website to another.
  • Try encouraging your child to work in intervals such as the Pomodoro technique https://www.focusboosterapp.com/the-pomodoro-technique  https://cirillocompany.de/pages/pomodoro-technique
  • Turn off alerts and notifications.
  • Create tech free times or zones in the home. Try to make the bedroom a tech free zone so that it doesn’t affect sleep!
  • Get outside and get physically active….. bit difficult at the moment but even a simple game in the backyard or inside will do!
  • Short naps of 10-20 minutes or just ‘down time’ have been shown to be very important in consolidating information in the brain.
  • Let your kids experience boredom and learn to day dream
  • Try mindfulness training. This has been shown to have amazing effects on attention skills. Many schools are now engaging this training.
  • Don’t use any gadgets 60-90 minutes before sleep as it can affect sleep patterns.
  • Encourage your child to self-regulate ie. Control how often they use their gadgets.
When it comes to home schooling, use a mixture of technology and books. Set a routine for the day that involves short blocks of learning activities and some active time or ‘down time’. You could set up a chart for your daily routine.
Try using a start chart to help your child reach a goal or earn a reward. I have been using a simple smiley face chart with my 2 year old and 4 year old. They have to earn tv time. I explain what behavior I am looking for ie. “Let mummy have a few minutes to do some work in peace!!!”. It is working well!!
Get your child involved in helping you with household chores. Again, make them earn their rewards. Think of some simple rewards ie. Tv time, choose a favourite dinner or dessert, play with a toy that you keep hidden away as a reward…. Whatever motives them but make them earn it!
Hope this helps!! Please stay safe and I wish you all a lovely Easter!
Please feel welcome to email me any time. I would love to just hear how you are doing.
 
Danica
Speech Pathologist
www.speechmatters2.com.au