Digital devices creating a generation of kids with speech problems

[Allycat]

 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/digital-devices-creating-a-generation-of-kids-with-speech-problems/news-story/22cf45ad6cbdc70413ed21200db72f11

 

Quote

CHILDREN soaking up screen time on an expanding array of digital devices are losing the art of conversation, developing speech impediments and even speaking with American accents.

Educators say the speech impediments emerge when children fail to look at people speaking to them, especially around the dinner table, so they are not watching how words are formed.

Many from the iGeneration, who have not known a world without digital screens, are starting school with fundamental speech problems and an inability to make certain sounds. And some primary students who have grown up with tablets and smart phones are developing American accents because they have spent so much time watching YouTube videos.

 

This is not a good development. I'm all for tech at an early age, I've seen parents hold off only to find they their children are behind the 8 ball. but when it is hindering learning is very worrying.

 

I think this article is behind a paywall so I'll paste the whole article here.

Quote

CHILDREN soaking up screen time on an expanding array of digital devices are losing the art of conversation, developing speech impediments and even speaking with American accents.

Educators say the speech impediments emerge when children fail to look at people speaking to them, especially around the dinner table, so they are not watching how words are formed.

Many from the iGeneration, who have not known a world without digital screens, are starting school with fundamental speech problems and an inability to make certain sounds. And some primary students who have grown up with tablets and smart phones are developing American accents because they have spent so much time watching YouTube videos.

St Catherine’s students Tilly Shorter, Aimee Garcia, Eva Griffiths and Evie Bayot. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Australian Early Development Census data shows up to 24 per cent of children start school with “developmental vulnerabilities in language and communication”.

NSW Primary Principals’ Association president Phil Seymour said many schools were paying experts to help children with speech problems. “Some parents are not doing it (conversing face to face with their children) — the importance of social interaction is in the nuances of language and enunciation that children pick up from adults,” Mr Seymour said.

Teachers report younger primary children saying “free” instead of “three” and older students using “obsiously” instead of “obviously” because they have been starved of face-to-face conversation.

Katharyn Reid, junior school teacher at St Catherine’s School in Waverley, said parents and teachers were “facing issues” combating digital devices.

“At a restaurant or a cafe children once listened to conversation at the table and were expected to join in, it was part of growing up,” she said.

“Today often the first thing parents do is hand them an iPad to keep them entertained. With animations like Peppa Pig, children are not watching how words are articulated, sounding out words or understanding their meaning.”

Year 4 students Aimee Garcia, Eva Griffiths, Tilly Shorter and Evie Bayot at St Catherine’s School, Waverley. Picture: Justin Lloyd. St Catherine’s teacher Katharyn Reid takes time out with students to role play and enunciate words correctly. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

A NSW Department of Education spokesman said public schools received an extra $219 million this year to spend on students with special learning needs, including speech pathology.

“The Every Student, Every School program … provides every regular public school with a specialist learning and support teacher who works with classroom teachers to help students with extra learning needs including language difficulties,” he said.

“The department is currently working with Speech Pathology Australia to develop materials that further strengthen the professional links between speech pathologists and teachers working with students that have extra communication needs.”

Digital parental educator Dr Kristy Goodwin said the decline in language skills was frequently raised by teachers.

Digital parental educator Dr Kristy Goodwin at her Manly home with her children Taj, six, and Billy, three. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“It is a phenomenon a lot of people are seeing now,” she said. “When I go into a staffroom of kindergarten teachers, it’s the biggest gripe they have.”

Dr Goodwin said children developed language through a “ping pong” or “serve and return” interaction with their parents and if that was displaced by a screen it interfered with language skills.

Federal Health Department screen guidelines say children younger than two should not spend any time watching TV or using other electronic media. Children aged two to five should be limited to less than an hour a day.

CHILDREN LOST FOR WORDS

AUSTRALIA faces an emerging crisis in students’ writing skills with NAPLAN results showing scores have plummeted over the past six years.

Despite advances in reading, spelling, grammar and numeracy, latest data from the National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy reveals children have gone backwards in writing since 2011.

This year, 16.5 per cent of Year 9 students nationwide performed below the benchmark in writing compared with 2.8 per cent in 2011 when the same students were in Year 3.

A group of Year 3 students take time out ahead of sitting their NAPLAN tests. Picture: Ian Currie

“Somehow we dropped the ball for thousands of those kids as they progressed through school,” Associate Professor Misty Adoniou from the University of Canberra said.

“Not only are the numbers of low-performing students ­increasing but the inverse is ­occurring for our high-achieving students — their numbers decrease as they move through school.”

Data shows students’ results take a dramatic turn for the worse in Year 7 — the first year of high school — with a fivefold increase in children below benchmark and a threefold decrease in those who are far above the benchmark.

Prof Adoniou said many students were unable to write engaging stories or persuasive arguments.

“They write like they speak … they can’t use vocabulary and grammar in literate ways,” she said.

“They don’t read enough literate language — you can only write as well as you can read.”

Prof Adoniou said teachers did not have enough time to delve into the craft of writing and needed more professional learning in English grammar.

She said a “misplaced focus on ‘back-to-basics’ literacy education” had come at the expense of more complex skills.

Research associate at Murdoch University’s School of Education Dr Anabela Malpique said studies revealed 28 per cent of children were unable to write more than five letters in one minute by the end of kindergarten.

Research showed that effective writing depended on the development of handwriting and spelling and higher-order skills such as planning and revising, she said.

15

 

[DrMacintosh]

Don't blame the technology, blame the parents. 

 

Case closed. 

[PlayStation 2]

This is why you should learn parenting and not relying on electronics to occupy a child.

[dcgreen2k]

Huh. I've never seen any of these problems, but then again, my area is probably one of the least accent-y parts of the USA.

[DocSwag]

And that's why before 8-9 ish there should be heavy restrictions against using digital devices (say, less than 30 minutes or an hour a day)

[mynameisjuan]

Im dyslexic so I can barely speak as it is lol

 

But I dont doubt that it is causing an issue. I was called out as an asshole a few months ago because I said I prefer to call than text "because that assumes I am entitled for them to dedicate time for me while texting lets them respond when they have time".

 

So constant texting with everyone using acronyms for shorter text and so forth I can see as an issue. 

[NinJake]

Well, makes me feel better about myself Ok that was selfish... but once all these children grow up maybe it will simply be a "new accent", to talk with speech impediments!

[Mooshi]

Quote

even speaking with American accents

Did The Onion write this?

[PlayStation 2]

1 minute ago, Mooshi said:

Did The Onion write this?

It's an Australian website. They hate us 'cause they ain't us.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Dan Castellaneta
".com.au"

[Viesulis]

19 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

And that's why before 8-9 ish there should be heavy restrictions against using digital devices (say, less than 30 minutes or an hour a day)

i say 0 minutes a day and a good childrens movie on the weekends

[XenosTech]

What if I just hate talking to people becasue you know... I'm fucking introverted ?

[Yoinkerman]

Being introverted has little bearing on the inability to formally write.

[Bananasplit_00]

im a lot for bringing tech to young people, but i dont think they should have unlimited access. if you cant find a way to keep your child entertained thats not a tablet/phone/computer and they are under maybe 10 or so, id say you failed. i got into tech because i was restriced and the computer was so slow i couldent do what i wanted with that time. i wanted to find ways to make the most of my 1h or whatever. 

[MeDownYou]

22 minutes ago, Yoinkerman said:

Being introverted has little bearing on the inability to formally write.

I was crushed when I couldn't use abreviations in my school papers... Learned shorthand myself when I was around 7 or 8... And now nobody uses shorthand because who writes with pen and paper anymore 

[TacoSenpai]

Oh so you mean living your entire life tied to mobile devices and not interacting with people at all is harmful and could have long term effects?  I'm shocked.

 

 

 

[samcool55]

2 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

im a lot for bringing tech to young people, but i dont think they should have unlimited access. if you cant find a way to keep your child entertained thats not a tablet/phone/computer and they are under maybe 10 or so, id say you failed. i got into tech because i was restriced and the computer was so slow i couldent do what i wanted with that time. i wanted to find ways to make the most of my 1h or whatever. 

I had unlimited access and i wouldn't say i'm broken or something O_o

The only "issue" i developed is my writing is not good enough anymore but that's due to my education, 100% laptop 0% books and 0% writing as a result.

But after writing multiple pages it's usually fixed again for a while

 

Limiting isn't always the solution. The kids with very strict parents are usually the ones smoking outside of school, hiding a lot of stuff from them and go to the wildest parties.

Kids don't lie unless they have a reason.

[RGProductions]

Thats why if im ever a parent no or incredibly limited, supervised, and social electronics until age 10 when they slowly fade in.

[Bananasplit_00]

1 minute ago, samcool55 said:

I had unlimited access and i wouldn't say i'm broken or something O_o

The only "issue" i developed is my writing is not good enough anymore but that's due to my education, 100% laptop 0% books and 0% writing as a result.

But after writing multiple pages it's usually fixed again for a while

 

Limiting isn't always the solution. The kids with very strict parents are usually the ones smoking outside of school, hiding a lot of stuff from them and go to the wildest parties.

Kids don't lie unless they have a reason.

definatly a good point. i dont have kids but if i ever do i honestly think i will be limiting them a bit. il be helping them build computers and shit and buying them hardware but not unlimited screen time untill they are 10 or something. the enviroment is already way diffrent from what i grew up in a few years ago so im not really sure to be honest. i only had a P4 computer as my most digital thing i had access too untill i was like 8, no phone untill third grade and even that was a pice of shit. im happy that i havent grown up with amazing tech because it made me atleast want to learn about it. saying hard no to computers and being super strict i dont think is a solution but i think no phones at the dinner table is a pretty good rule atleast. hard topic though

[DocSwag]

1 hour ago, Viesulis said:

i say 0 minutes a day and a good childrens movie on the weekends

Personally I'd say 0 minutes is a bit extreme once after the age of 4 ish, though at the same time I'm not an adult yet so that might be part of the reason  

[NumLock21]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/spines_speech

 

[Lurick]

2 hours ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

This is why you should learn parenting and not relying on electronics to occupy a child.

What?!?! You mean actually interact with your own spawn?!?

What sort of evil person are you?

[NumLock21]

So the linked articles, shows there are 2 problems.

1. inability to speak properly

2. They can't write properly too. They write as if they are texting.

[elkenrod]

Night theme user here...

 

 I couldn't read the entire post, but here's a counter argument in favor of digital devices and media:

 

The proliferation of digital media, such as YouTube, is seeing a larger group of young people publishing their own media.  Twitch and YouTube especially incentivize good public speaking and communication skills in order to build viewership.  Kids are learning broadcast skills at younger ages.

 

Then we have public message boards, such as LTT, that are well moderated.  Those without the ability to communicate clearly are quickly ostracized.

 

in short, I would say that effective digital communication demands a higher skill set than "old ass doomsayers" would suggest.

 

?

[samcool55]

2 hours ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

definatly a good point. i dont have kids but if i ever do i honestly think i will be limiting them a bit. il be helping them build computers and shit and buying them hardware but not unlimited screen time untill they are 10 or something. the enviroment is already way diffrent from what i grew up in a few years ago so im not really sure to be honest. i only had a P4 computer as my most digital thing i had access too untill i was like 8, no phone untill third grade and even that was a pice of shit. im happy that i havent grown up with amazing tech because it made me atleast want to learn about it. saying hard no to computers and being super strict i dont think is a solution but i think no phones at the dinner table is a pretty good rule atleast. hard topic though

Yes! Learn them to use a screwdriver, fix bulbs and stuff regardless of the gender. People these days imo rarely learn their kids useful stuff like that and i sometimes wonder how they'll survive later with such limited skills.

 

No phones at the dinner table is indeed a great idea, i'm trying to do the same when it's a special occasion because i'm rarely in a social situation so i try to make the best of them

 

I also grew up with limited tech, my dad got into the tech world and learned me the very basics like how to install XP, eventually i got my own rig to mess with (it had a 700MHz cpu, 2 IDE HDD's, 2 Floppy drives and more stuff just because i could) and with an XP setup disk the floodgates opened, i started learning and basically never stopped.

 

These days a Pi and a rig that they can mess with is a great point to get them started. At least if they want to, forcing them into something they don't want never ends well.

[Misanthrope]

I'd go a step further here: Don't call it a "problem" with speech and communication but simply a linguistic evolution. I believe this is perhaps an early precursor to trans-humanism.