Zone’in Workshops

This article is the sixth of a six part series on successful school-based strategies to optimize attention and enhance learning ability, and follows the Zone’in Child Development Series December 2009 newsletter advocating for school implementation of the School Operating Safely (SOS) – Child Behavior Management Policy and Procedures. This policy has recently been forwarded to all provincial Education Ministers, as well as members of the Council of Ministers of Education.

Technology Overuse or Management? It’s time to face the facts!

Balanced Technology Management for Schools of the New Millennium

The 21st century has borne witness to nothing short of an explosion in use of electronic technologies, both at home and in school settings. Education systems have joined the race to stock their schools with the latest and greatest new technologies, striving to provide their students with up to date learning tools and techniques. Unfortunately, there is limited research regarding the actual effectiveness of these electronic devices to facilitate learning, empirical evidence the education systems once used as the gold standard to determine teaching methods. More worrisome is the existing research regarding the long term effects of technology overuse on the developing child shows detrimental effects on physical, mental, social and academic performance. Another parameter worth considering regarding the issue of technology overuse is the fact that education systems throughout North America are experiencing whole scale financial crises. While school districts lay off teachers, close schools, and cordon off playgrounds with yellow tape due to disrepair, one has to question educators choice to continue to spend escalating amounts of money on student technologies that are antiquated before they even comes out of the box! It’s time to face the facts regarding the impact of technology overuse, and work together to manage a balance between activities children need for growth and success with technology use.

So how much technology use is too much when considering the developing child, and what measures can the education system take to ensure children who overuse technology are still achieve optimal growth and academic performance? A quick review of the research is imperative if educators are to understand the impact of technology overuse on child health and academic performance. Children now use an average 7.5 hours per day of entertainment technologies, largely unsupervised due to the fact that 75% of children have either a TV or computer in their bedroom (Kaiser Foundation 2010). The subsequent impact of this sedentary yet chaotic technology overuse on a child’s physical, mental, social and academic performance is astounding, to say the least. Child obesity is a North American epidemic (Tremblay M 2007). One third of children entering school are developmentally delayed (Kershaw P 2009) and 1 in 6 children have been diagnosed with a mental illness (Waddell C 2007). Child aggression and acts of violence in schools are at an all time high (Vancouver Sun 2010), while ability to communicate and socialize at an all time low (Christakis D 2007). Academically, literacy is declining as attention and learning disabilities escalate, leaving educators wondering how they can possibly teach children who are also sleep deprived and hard wired for high speed.

While all these above noted statistics are causally related to child technology overuse (see Zone’in Fact Sheet), few brave souls are willing to walk the path toward promoting wide scale recognition and development of effective solutions. The virtual lure is so strong and technology use so pervasive, that everyone seems to have adopted the illusion that technology may actually be good for children, a widely circulated idea amongst educational technology producers. The wide spread and escalating use of computers in school settings, without any empirical evidence to show they do nothing more than simply entertain children, is literally bankrupting the education system. Universal denial by educators that technology overuse is putting children’s existence in peril, along with the blinded persistence to allow children unrestricted use, could actually be termed a form of abuse and/or neglect in a legal sense. Caution and adherence to research evidenced facts will help guide educators back on the track toward optimizing child health and literacy. So how do education systems get on the same page and begin the difficult task of managing balance between activities children need for growth and success, with technology use?

Activities Children Need to Grow and Succeed

Build Sensational Classrooms, Gyms and Playgrounds

With one third of a child’s day spent sedentary, schools can provide organized activity that incorporates the three critical factors to ensure optimal child development and academic performance. These activities can be performed in the classroom, gym or on school playgrounds and should include sensory and motor components:

• Touch – deep pressure tactile input promotes praxis (planned movement patterns) essential for printing, and reduces anxiety to promote learning.
• Movement – vestibular and proprioceptive input determines core posture, motor coordination, and optimizes arousal states – essential for printing, reading and academic performance in all subjects.
• Connection – student relationships with educators can promote healthy attachment formation, integral for attention and learning.

Sign up for the Foundation Series Workshops (available in webinar or DVD format) and learn everything you need to know to optimize student learning to successfully bring your school into the 21^stcentury. Purchase the Zone’in Program to improve attention and learning through self regulation of energy.

Teach Children to Print

Chalk boards have disappeared from the primary setting, with many teachers under the illusion that because of computers, children don’t need to learn to print. Educators in the primary sector spend an average of 13 minutes per day teaching children to print, and utilize inconsistent and non-standardized instruction and evaluation methods. The result is that children don’t know how to make their letters and numbers, slowing down output and increasing student frustration.

Purchase the Move’in Program to teach children how to print at their own developmental level.

School learn to manage balance with…

Technology Use

Identify Indicators of Technology Overuse

The first step is to identify children who overuse technology, either through use of a technology screening tool and/or record of technology overuse indicators. The Technology Screen provides an average daily technology usage as reported either by parents or the student themselves. Recording the total number of technology overuse indicators as listed below on a student’s file would guide teachers toward technology management interventions, as opposed to use of psychotropic medication. The greater number of technology overuse indicators a student has could be indicative of a possible technology addiction, requiring school counseling for the student and family.

• Obesity
• Developmental delay
• Sleep deprivation
• Mental illness
• Behavior disorder
• Aggression
• Social isolation
• Speech or communication delay
• Poor academic performance
• Attention difficulty
• Learning disability

Purchase the Unplug’in Program to build alternate skills to technology, allowing students to develop technology reduction strategies. Purchase the Live’in Resource Guide to assist your school in developing a yearly one week intervention to raise student and staff awareness regarding the detrimental effects of technology overuse.

Technology Overuse Impact Parent Education Sessions

Education and health systems may want to team together to plan education sessions and support for parents of children who overuse technology. The Unplug’in Parent Brochure and the Ten Steps to Successfully Unplug Your Child from Technology are two documents that can be sent home with children as parent education initiatives.

Develop Technology Usage Policy Guidelines

1. Prohibit entertainment technology use AT ALL TIMES. Children are already using 8 hours per day at home, so don’t allow additional use at school.
2. Only use technology products that are evidenced based without conflict of interest e.g. research that was not conducted by the technology production company.
3. Establish risk/harm reduction policies regarding technology use. These policies should take into account that children with photophobic conditions such as autism are at risk for seizures.

Working together as a team – parents, educators, health professionals, government, researchers and technology production corporations can ensure sustainable futures for all children by enacting Balanced Technology Management initiatives. We can move children away from the virtual toward a healthy new reality.

Cris Rowan OT (Reg), BScOT, BScBi, SIPT, Approved Provider for ACTBC and AOTA
CEO Zone’in Programs Inc. and Sunshine Coast Occupational Therapy Inc.
6840 Seaview Rd. Sechelt BC V0N3A4
604-885-0986 O, 604-740-2264 C, 604-885-0389 F
crowan@zonein.ca
websites: www.zonein.ca, www.suncoastot.com