Interview Questions with Cris Rowan

1.  Tell us about yourself, and why you developed Zone’in Programs Inc?

  • Pediatric school based occupational therapist for a decade
  • Sensory and motor assessments to improve self regulation of behavior, attention, learning ability, printing, reading
  • Increasing caseload numbers indicated need for universal education and classroom based programs
  • Spent four years reviewing research literature, taking courses, prototype testing products, workshops and training programs

2.  What are Zone’in, Move’in and Unplug’in products?

  • Developmental programs for elementary children designed to enhance learning. DVD’s, game boards, posters, loads of tools and techniques to provide children with the information and performance skills they need to learn.
  • Zone’in improves sensory processing to enhance attention, by teaching kids how to regulate their energy to get it Zone’in to Learn.
  • Move’in assesses motor skill delays to improve printing and reading, by offering developmentally relevant strategies.
  • Unplug’in builds performance skills in the Me, We, Earth and Spirit dimensions so kids can unplug from technology themselves.

3.  What are the Zone’in Foundation Series Workshops and Training Programs?

  • In order to improve access to much needed information on the impact of technology on child development, Cris Rowan has designed a series of workshops for parents, teachers and health professionals called the Zone’in Foundation Series Workshops
  • Cris Rowan is training other pediatric occupational therapists in Canada and the US to deliver these workshops in their own communities
4.  What are the critical factors to achieve developmental milestones?
  • Child developmental parameters are physical, psychological, social and behavioral
  • Critical factors are movement, touch and human connection

Movement

  • Young children require 3-4 hours per day of active rough and tumble play to achieve adequate sensory stimulation to their vestibular and proprioceptive sensory systems for normal development
  • Vestibular and proprioceptive input ensures normal development of posture, bilateral coordination, optimal arousal states and self regulation necessary for achieving foundation skills for eventual school entry
  • Infants with low tone, toddlers failing to reach motor milestones, and children who are unable to pay attention or achieve basic foundation skills for literacy, are examples of inadequate vestibular and proprioceptive input
  • The use of safety restraint devices such as infant bucket seats and toddler carrying packs and strollers, have further limit movement, as have TV and videogame overuse
  • Many of today’s parents perceive outdoor play is ‘unsafe’, additionally limiting essential developmental components usually attained in outdoor rough and tumble play

Touch

  • Tactile sensory input is a biological need, without which humans would die
  • Skin is the largest organ of the body, with 70,000 receptors per square inch
  • Tactile stimulation is integral to child health and well being
  • When infants are deprived of human touch, they develop into children who exhibit excessive agitation and anxiety, and may become depressed by early childhood (Dr. Ashley Montagu)
  • Technology is grossly limiting access to necessary tactile stimulation, and many children are touch deprived

Human Connection

  • Defined as the primary attachment bond between infant and parent
  • Critical period for attachment development is 0-7 months
  • Connection to technology is causing a disconnection from self, others, nature and spirit
  • Disconnection is most apparent in children with Autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression and bipolar disorders, all of which are increasing in number and severity
  • Attachment disorders are causally related to child and adult addictions

5.  What are the signs of addiction?

  • Def’n: an addiction is something you rearrange the rest of your life to accommodate
  • Causes: social anxiety resulting from poor attachment formation with primary parents or caregivers; as child use patterns follow adult use patterns, we need to help build family relationships
  • Signs: can’t stop, need more, replaces family/friends/school/work, overuse, duress when not using

6.  What are the first steps people can take at home to address technology addictions?

  • Become informed
  • Parents need to disconnect from technology to reconnect with kids
  • Enhance child performance skills in alternate activities
  • Ensure critical milestones of movement, touch and connection are met of 3-4 hours per day rough and tumble play
  • Address parent misperceptions of outdoor safety
  • S.Korea 2.5% of pop’n addicted, additional 10% at risk of becoming addicted
  • In US, 40% of gamers are addicted

7.  What are additional things parents can do to address technology addictions?

  • If connection or attachment to others is fearful or difficult, adults should seek counseling to explore their own primary relationship with their parents, especially if this relationship is dysfunctional
  • Parents need to replace reward system of videogames with more involvement in their kids lives
  • Start with creating sacred times with no technology e.g. meals, 1 hour before bed, in morning prior to work/school
  • Use familiar games to fill time e.g. cards, board games, tag, hide and seek; then start to explore new interests
  • Stick to American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines of no more than 1-2 hours technology per day
  • No technology in bedrooms, at dining table, in cars or on holidays

8.  Do you advocate “cold turkey” to treat technology addictions in children?

  • No. Parents and schools need to help children build performance skills in the four dimensions of self, others, nature and spirit prior to unplugging
  • Parents should let children reduce the use and then eventually unplug themselves by being more involved and available to their children

9. What are some of the other initiatives you have designed to address the impact of technology on child development?

Unplug-Don’t Drug Policy

  • Increasing trend to diagnose and medicate children
  • Increasing trend of technology overuse
  • Low level of knowledge by health and education professionals, as well as gov’t
  • Policy – child and family undergo 3 month technology unplug prior to prescription for psychotropic medication to treat child behavior
  • Goals – increased awareness, technology reduction programs in schools, getting health and education professionals to take technology usage history, increased research, decreased pharmaceutical ads in home magazines

Creating Sustainable Futures Program

  • Canada wide implementation of school based technology reduction programs
  • Format of Zone’in products, workshops and training programs
  • Sent to Canadian Education and Health Ministers

Linking Corporations to Communities Initiative

  • Technology production corporations contribute to communities regarding child health initiatives e.g. through funding Creating Sustainable Futures Program, safe parks, free recreation and bus passes for children

10.  Where can people learn more about your products, workshops, training programs and policy initiatives?

  • Website www.zonein.ca
  • New book Disconnect to Reconnect – How to counteract the negative effects of technology to improve child performance at school and home