A new study confirming what was already known

[conuly]

Young children don't learn new words from TV.

(And yes, that includes TV as "background noise" - what that seems to do is prevent children from fully focusing on the world around them, again, keeping them from learning to their full potential. Just because your kid is playing while the TV is on all day, as some people claim, does not mean it's harmless.)

Comments

[fieryminge.livejournal.com]

I beg to differ with this article for two reasons. My son has definitely picked up new words from TV (and yes, he knows what they mean/what the word is associated with) Shows like Baby Einstein, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Ni Hao Kai Lan, Bunnytown, Thomas the Tank Engine, Word World, and every animated movie we've let him watch. Sure, it takes him a couple times of watching sometimes before he makes the connection with a new word, but he always gets it.

The other reason I disagree is they only surveyed/researched the effects of Teletubbies. I mean, come on! Teletubbies? No wonder none of the kids learned anything.

Above all, I do believe that kids don't learn anything without parental reinforcement. Like if I plopped him in front of the TV and did nothing to interact with him and the program, of course he wouldn't learn anything. But that's not to say he hasn't ever picked up stuff on his own.

[conuly]

Okay. How old is he?

[fieryminge.livejournal.com]

Oh man.. I'm sorry. He is 3. He started watching most of these shows between 18-24 months.

[conuly]

Okay. And when did he start repeating, in context, words that he'd seen on those shows? Because this study only went up to 22 months, and I don't know how it applies to older kids.

[fieryminge.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't have an exact timeframe for you, but he is pretty quick. For instance, with Ni Hao Kai Lan (if you don't know about it, it's a show like Dora that teaches Mandarin Chinese) he picked it up right away. Within 10-15 minutes after the show he was counting in Chinese and repeating the lesson. So in context, if we're in the grocery store and he sees the numbers to the aisles he'll count off in Chinese.

And after watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I hear him running around saying words unique to that show that I certainly didn't teach him. Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse and mousekatools and the like.

Oh and also... he didn't really start speaking until he was around 2 1/2. He knew about 50 words by that time. But now I'd have to sit down and make a list.

[conuly]

It's not a subject I'm an expert on, but I'd say he's outside this study anyway, since he was well older than 22 months when he started speaking, and this study was only done on little children.