TV and computer time ‘no substitute for parental love’

The five childcare experts hammered home their message to parents at the world’s biggest science conference in Vancouver, Canada.

All agreed that sitting toddlers in front of a TV or computer screen was unhelpful and may even obstruct their progress.

The group was discussing the problem of “late talkers” – children who are slow to learn to talk and often held back in their educational development. Studies suggest that between six per cent to eight per cent of all children fall into this category. Incidence rates are the same in the developed and undeveloped world.

By the age of two, a child should have a vocabulary of at least 50 words and be attempting to put together a couple of sentences. However, some are still struggling to master words at three.

Although they often appear to recover, research has shown that impairments can show up in the later teenage years.

Professor Nan Bernstein Ratner of the University of Maryland said: “There’s been recent work distinguishing between overheard speech as opposed to speech directed to the child, and overheard speech is much less effective as a predictor of what children learn.

“We have a very durable body of literature that suggests that you can’t substitute the kind of input that you give a child by plopping them in front of a television.”