Screen Time—Can It Really Help Children Learn to Read?

I watched my 13 month-old granddaughter learn to screw off the top of a water bottle last night.  She was totally absorbed in getting her little fingers around the top and turning her wrist just right to get the top off and then putting it back on and turning it the other direction to get it back on. The intent and determined look on her face was precious. But as soon as her grandpa and dad started looking at the new features on their latest iphone updates, she dropped the bottle and reached for the phone.  What is the intrigue of screens for these developing toddler minds?

There is a great presentation at KBYU Eleven coming up titled:  Screen Time—Can It Really Help Children Learn to Read?”  Diena Simmons, the station manager, will discuss how TV, computer, tablet and mobile screen time can be leveraged to help children learn to read.  She’ll talk about what works, what doesn’t, and how parents and caregivers (including grandparents!) can tell the difference.  Plus she will review free resources that are available to almost every home through public television, America’s largest classroom.

The luncheon is on Wednesday,Oct. 2, 2013, 11:30 am-1:00 pm at KBYU Broadcasting (east of the Marriott Center, free parking for guests in the “Y” lot on the north side of KBYU).  

For a $10 donation to United Way of Utah County Welcome Baby program, you will be educated AND have a great lunch with a roomful of women like yourself.  There will even be door prizes!  So get a bunch of your friends together, find a babysitter and enjoy a midday break.

I feel pretty inadequate trying to keep up with technology for myself—my new iphone updates are still challenging me—but I sure want to keep up with what impact the screens at my house will have on my granddaughter’s development.