Zone’in Workshops

The August 6, 2007 Time magazine quotes research by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis reporting that babies that watch videos such as “Brainy Baby” and “Baby Einstein” scored 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos. What they don’t state is why.

Development is a motor task, involving muscles that need to move. A two-dimensional screen image is considerably different from three-dimensional “real” life. Language skill development, as well as eventual printing and reading, are all motor tasks, using the fine motor muscles of the mouth, eyes and hand, and should be taught like one would teach a sport…interactively.

A good example would be a child who watches a soccer game on TV but is not able to go out and replicate the motor components necessary to have good soccer performance. This child needs to practice the motor components over and over again before a “motor plan” is formed. Once a child achieves a motor plan for a specific task, the task becomes subconscious, requiring very little cognitive attention for completion. Playing outside and viewing three-dimensional nature is very different from viewing a nature program on TV!

Language skill acquisition requires repetition and practice, with a feedback loop that is an accurate representation of the infant’s attempts to produce language. How else would the infant know if their attempts are indeed correct? We also need to consider the visual system’s role in language development.

Just as we have large muscles to control our trunk, arms, and legs, we also have small ocular muscles that control our eyes. To develop properly, the ocular muscles require stimulation to the brain’s vestibular system. The vestibular system is the foundation for a child’s ability to coordinate both sides of her body and eyes, to maintain erect posture, and to optimize arousal states necessary for learning. Because TV, videogames, and computers have small screens and are two-dimensional, children are not receiving adequate ocular muscle movement necessary for printing and reading. Developmental Optometrists have reported a dramatic rise over the last 20 years in children with learning difficulties who have poor ocular motor coordination.

To reverse this ominous trend, parents and teachers need to reduce TV and videogames, and increase a child’s activities involving moving the body. Only then can language, printing and reading skills develop properly.