How much TV does your child watch?
You may want to reduce it as much as possible due to the shocking results of
a recent study in the April, 2004 issue of Pediatrics.
This study says that very young children who watch television face an
increased risk of attention deficit problems by school age, because TV might
over-stimulate and permanently “rewire the developing brain”.
According to the study, for every hour of TV watched daily, two groups of
children, ages 1 and 3, faced a 10 percent increased risk of having
attention problems at age 7.
According to the authors of the study, “ADHD affects between
4 and 12% of US children and is the most common behavioral disorder of
childhood”. Several studies confirm that the rapidly changing images,
scenery and events on television may shorten children’s attention spans.
The author of the study, D. Christakis, M.D., says, “The newborn brain
develops very rapidly during the first two to three years of life. It’s
really being wired” during that time.
We know from studies of newborn rats that if you expose them to different
levels of visual stimuli, the architecture of the brain looks very
different” depending on the amount of stimulation…”
As we all know, school/learning activities require a longer attention span
and one of the most common complaints among parents and teachers, is that
children just don’t seem to want to pay attention.
Here are a few suggestions to remedy the situation:
1. Limit TV watching to one or two hours per week.
2. If your child is younger, limit video game playing and computer time
because it inhibits visual skill development needed for reading later on.
3. Take your child to visit with friends and play more outdoor games (this
develops the visual skills such as eye-hand coordination and tracking they
need for reading
also)
4. Read to your child daily for at least 15 minutes and encourage them to
create a “movie in their mind” of what you are reading to them about (this
will increase their visual memory skills needed in all school activities and
during test taking)
5. Expose your child to some classical music a few times a week because
research says this enhances their cognitive thinking skills
6. For more information on ADD-ADHD solutions visit http://tinyurl.com/26t48