As new types of technology come on the scene and become more prevalent, I've been seeing the response by experts to continue along the lines of avoidance for children under the age of two. And, while I am a strong supporter of keeping television away from this age group as much as possible (for the most part), I am not so quick to dismiss other forms of technology. I think the true questions to ask ourselves, as parents, are what are the purposes of the technology and how much time is being spent on them? Are we using these devices as babysitters and are our children becoming too addicted to them? I think that if we can answer no to these questions, we will find that there actually is some learning value to these devices.
Enter: the IPad. When my son was very young, he was extremely fussy and we discovered that he enjoyed some elements of the IPad. Along with the IPhone, the device's ability to light up and react to touch was extremely enticing. My son is not actually a huge fan of screen time. Given opportunity to watch television, particularly children's television (which does not happen often), he rarely sticks with it for more than a few minutes. But, the IPad is a very different story.
At first, I was worried. I wasn't certain that any amount of time away from real life experiences was a positive, but then I began to think about the broader scope of technology. The reality of our lives it that technology is an inherent part of our experience. As it increases in use, it is becoming a necessity. It's very obvious that the earlier technology is introduced to a human being, the more technology literate they become (and why children often understand computers better than their grandparents!). In the same way that language literacy becomes stronger the earlier the exposure, I feel that there is some value to this exposure for the sake of technology literacy. So, I let my little guy play with the IPad. He never uses it for more than ten minutes, and we almost always interact with him while he uses. But when he is enthralled by it...he can do some amazing things!
The evolution of his technological understanding has been pretty amazing. At first he learned how to use the touch screen, but now he can unlock the screen, flip through pages, and find the icons he wants to play with. He can press the button to return to the home screen. He can flip through the pages of his book applications. In fact, every now and then he does something that my husband and I still can't figure out how he did it!
Through my son's exploration of the IPad, I've discovered some great apps that he enjoys and I feel are still appropriate for his learning development. The apps by Duck Duck Moose are wonderful, although I avoid the academic ones because I don't like how they introduce numbers and letters. Of their apps, I really like Old MacDonald, Baa Baa Black Sheep, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Musical Me (he instantly recognized this icon on an IPad at the kids table in the Apple store and clicked on it!). Another great group of apps are done by Kidztory. They have all sorts of classic books slightly animated and a child can flip through the pages. Children can choose to have the app read the story to them or, if they can, read it to themselves. An adult can also read the story to the child in this manner. You can also download children's books to IBooks; a great way to read while traveling and you don't want to carry heavy books around!
I have downloaded a few academic related apps (although my 15 month old is not using them yet), but I always make sure to find Montessori apps. Surprisingly, there are a large number of these. Montessorium has some interesting apps (using the idea of Sandpaper Letters and Sandpaper Numbers) called Intro to Letters and Intro to Numbers. They also have an app called Alpha Writer that uses the same principles as the Moveable Alphabet. While I am a firm believer that these things are best learned in a hands-on experience, I do feel that it's a great way to complement that learning when using technology. If we want our children to explore technology and learn while they do it, then Montessori-related learning apps are a great way to do so!
With our society becoming ever more dependent on technology, I do believe it has a place in our children's lives. When it comes to my son, I make certain that it remains age-appropriate, appropriate for his skill level, and that it's interactive rather than flashy. I also watch how much time he spends with it (while it's not much now, I know it's something to keep an eye on in the future). I enjoy watching him experience these kinds of technology. His mastery level amazes me on a daily basis!
No comments:
Post a Comment