New Screen-Time Recommendations for Children Under Six

Nov 3, 2016

By Kathy Kinsner

The American Academy of Pediatrics released new recommendations for children’s use of “screen media.” Is screen time educational, distracting, or some combination of the two?

Screens Are Everywhere

Everywhere you look, there’s a screen with bright pictures and interesting noises—phones and computers, tablets and TVs. You may wonder if all this technology is good for babies and toddlers. Is it educational, distracting, or some combination of the two?

It turns out that’s a great question to ask.

Recommended Screen Time

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommendations for children’s use of “screen media.” Here’s what the Academy says is best for each age:

• Birth through 18 months
  Avoid all screen media—phones, tablets, TVs and computers. (It’s OK to video chat with grandparents and far-away friends.)
• 18 months to 2 years
  It is OK to introduce young children to high-quality children’s media if you watch it with them and help them understand what they’re seeing.
• 2 to 5 years
  Limit screen use to one hour a day of high-quality programs designed for children. Watch with your children; explain what they’re seeing and how it applies to the world around them.

Tips on Using Media to Support Early learning

Your child learns most from her experiences in the real world. She learns by exploring, using her whole body and all her senses. A bird hopping along the sidewalk, a crackly leaf or a juicy red apple are easier for her to understand and remember than the objects she sees on a screen. Help your child connect what she sees on-screen with what she sees in the real world. Point out and name objects in real life that she’s seen on the TV, phone or tablet.

Your child learns most from his interactions with you. The conversations you have with your child are far more educational than mobile apps—even those designed for learning. Your child points to something that interests him, and you talk about it. “Yes, that’s a duck. What does the duck say?” You describe the new thing in relation to something that interested him the day before or the day before that. “Remember when you went to the park with Grandma? Did you feed the ducks?” Learning is connected to the feeling of being loved and supported as you discover the world together. Watch TV or use media with your child. Ask questions and talk about what you’re watching.

Your young child gets distracted by television, even when it’s on in the background. TVs offer loud voices, flashing lights and noise! Young children already have to sort out and make sense of so much information. Focusing is easier without the TV. Try to limit TV in the background when young children are playing and make sure to turn off the TV when no one is watching.

Your use of media shows your child what’s important and valuable.Everybody’s got friends who are attached to their phones—texting, updating social media and watching videos. It’s easy to feel left out or unimportant when the person across from you is looking down at a screen. This is not the message we intend to give our children, but it happens. The take-away? Shut off or silence your phone when you can. Use that time to connect with your child and experience the world together.

Research shows reading improves kids' emotional intelligence and increases empathy

Growing up in a small town in Iowa, books were my window to a larger world. I would curl up in our overstuffed floral chair and be transported to a new world–from the 1930s Dust Bowl in Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse to the castle in Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. Books taught me about people who had different life experiences and grew up in different places than the Midwest.

The author, David Foster Wallace, accurately summarizes the importance of reading fiction and how fiction can help us better understand others, saying, “Fiction is about what it means to be human.”

This notion that reading can better help us connect to the broader human experience is more than a simple observation, it has been supported by extensive research. Studies show that reading can help kids build developmental skills of emotional intelligence and empathy, enabling our young readers to better connect with other perspectives and human experiences.

Fiction can increase emotional intelligence

The ability to learn about diversity through reading has been studied extensively, as researchers try to tap into what lifelong readers know as the magic of reading.

According to an article in the Scientific American, researchers at the New School in New York City “found evidence that literary fiction improves a reader’s capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling.” The article further argues that literary fiction can “support and teach us values about social behavior, such as the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves.”

The results of this study suggest that readers have greater emotional intelligence and empathy, meaning they can better put themselves in someone else’s shoes.

An important concept for parents, volunteers, mentors, and teachers to keep mind during classroom time and one-on-one sessions with kids. By supporting kids’ literacy development and a love of reading, you will in turn foster their emotional growth as you read and discuss fiction with them.

Stories and human connection

The notion that reading is a valuable skill for building social awareness and empathy is echoed by many authors who know and love this magical, important part of reading.

In an interview with Lit Hub, author Sunil Yapa says, “Empathy is a radical act, particularly when you use it to connect with people who are very different from you. Loving others is wonderful, but caring for others is profound…Empathy is a profound act of imagination and human connection. In fiction, we imagine ourselves into other people’s experiences. Of course, another word for that is ‘reading.’”

In this quotation, Yapa captures the essence of the connection between empathy and reading. He highlights how stories can be used as points of access for understanding other people’s lives.

Whether fiction or nonfiction, reading offers a unique experience to become engrossed in the stories and life experiences of the characters in the book. Providing readers with the opportunity to connect with other worldviews.

Applying this research in practice

At Reading Partners, we have the chance to read and discuss amazing children’s fiction with the students we work with. Giving children an array of diverse choices of fiction will not only help them become better readers, but will encourage them to be more empathetic people.

Books can be a window into different worlds for our students, just like they were for me growing up. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena and Home by Carson Ells are two of my recent favorite children’s books that inspire empathy.

Here are some tips to incorporate this research in your next tutoring session:

1. Pick a literature book for read aloud time that discusses different types of life events and/or cultures.
2. Ask comprehension questions related to characters’ responses to the events in the book.
3. Encourage your student to think about how they might have responded to the events a character is experiencing in the book.

The opportunity to strengthen each student’s empathy through reading is an exciting prospect. Stories matter, and understanding others matters. I’m grateful for all the time I spent reading growing up and believe reading has made me a more empathetic person.

Rae Pica has been an early childhood consultant specializing in the education of the whole child, children’s physical activity and the mind/body connection since 1980.

She is the author of 19 books and hosts many chats on you tube. Please check out her very informative videos on child development. This video in particular discusses appropriate educational toys for children.

Top toys for Christmas 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBRMFCr51h0

Check out her many videos on You Tube

Here's What a 'Kindness Curriculum' Looks Like

Scientists want to make kindness as integral to the curriculum as reading or math.

Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Healthy Minds have created a "kindness curriculum" which they have tested in six schools in that city. The curriculum is available online for free and has so far been downloaded 7,300 times.

Twice a week for 20 minutes during pilot testing of the curriculum, pre-kindergartners did activities aimed at helping them to pay attention, regulate their emotions, and practice kindness. Past studies have shown that children who learn these skills tend to become healthy adults who continue their education and end up financially stable. The skills may also better equip them to deal with future life stress.

"There is so much research that shows that these skills learned early in life can set kids out on a positive trajectory," associate scientist Lisa Flook told Education Week. She is part of the team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin center that wrote and tested the curriculum. Starting early pays off, Flook said, in that for every dollar spent on early intervention, the return ranges from between $7 and $11.

Teaching Kindness

So how do teachers bring kindness into the classroom? One activity involving "peace wands" helps students settle a conflict—say, over a toy—peacefully. The child with the heart wand speaks "from the heart," while the child with the star wand acts as the "star listener." After the child with the heart wand expresses her feelings ("I'm sad in my heart. I want to play with the toy."), the child with the star wand repeats back what was said ("You are sad and want a turn with the toy"). The two then switch wands and roles. The goal, in the end, is for the kids to come up with a way to solve the problem, perhaps by taking turns.

Another activity directs kids to add a sticker to a "kindness garden" poster whenever they act kindly or when a classmate acts kindly toward them. "The idea is that friendship is like a seed, it needs to be nurtured and taken care of in order to grow," wrote Flook along with the center's former outreach specialist Laura Pinger, who has a background as a speech and language therapist and was the main writer of the kindness curriculum. "Through that exercise, we got students talking about how kindness feels good and how we might grow more friendship in the classroom."

Managing Emotions

In order for kids to use the peace wands effectively and take part in the kindness garden activity, they need to learn to manage their emotions. To that end, they are often asked to pay close attention to their bodies and emotions, learning eventually to control them. During the activity, "Belly Buddies," kids listen to music while lying on their backs with a small stone resting on their stomachs. Teachers guide them to pay close attention to the way the stone feels as it rises and falls with every breath.

"It's something that's so simple and it allows them to experience internal quietness and a sense of calm," said Flook.

The "Belly Buddies" activity was one that Flook and Pinger presented to writers, producers, and educators at the Sesame Street Workshop in New York City to help shape the spring 2017 season emphasizing kindness. (A 2016 survey on kindness administered by Sesame Workshop revealed that teachers and parents fear "the world is an unkind place for children." Sesame Workshop CEO Jeffrey D. Dunn said he hoped the survey would start a national conversation about kindness.)

Another activity the pair presented at the Sesame Street Workshop is the "mind jar," which kids make themselves by filling a clear glass jar with water and adding glitter and a drop of liquid soap. In this activity, kids shake up their handmade glitter globes and pay careful attention to the sparkly bits as they slowly begin to settle, just as their minds settle down eventually after they've become upset.

Study Results

Researchers tested the children in sharing, attention, and empathy before the program began and after it ended. The results show that participants improved in each area, as well as in their grades, when compared with the control group.

The researchers measured children's sharing through a task that involved divvying up stickers. There were four trials. Children were given a set of 10 stickers in each trial and asked to put them in one of two envelopes, one marked "ME," and the other bearing a picture of a particular recipient (someone the child identified as a peer they like to play with, a peer they don't like to play with, a child who is sick, and a stranger). Children could donate or keep as many stickers as they wanted. Their sharing was measured by averaging the number of stickers shared across the four trials.

The children's attention was measured by using a computer-based task while empathy was measured by teacher reports of students' social behavior. Grades came from end-of-year report cards.

The pilot study was small: 30 pre-kindergartners went through the 12-week kindness program, while data from 38 other pre-kindergartners were used as a comparison. Flook said the results show the curriculum's potential, though larger studies are needed to demonstrate the curriculum's success over the long term.

Photo: Associate scientist Lisa Flook (right) and former outreach specialist Laura Pinger (left) teach the Center for Healthy Minds Kindness Curriculum to preschoolers at the Waisman Center Early Childhood Program at University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to exploring prosocial concepts like kindness, forgiveness and gratitude, kids are taught mindful movement exercises to build awareness of their minds and bodies.(William Graf)

Crossing Midline: Why It Is Important to Your Child’s Development
By: Lauren Civiello, M.S., CCC-SLP

The term ‘midline’ refers to the invisible line running from our brain to our feet, which separates the body’s right from left. As an SLP, I have been educated by my colleagues on the benefits of crossing midline for increased attention and concentration skills.

The ability to cross our midline reflects the degree of ‘bilateral’ organization a child possesses. Bilateral skills are important because it helps the right and left sides of our brains communicate. This link that allows both sides of the body to move together in coordination to perform a wide variety of everyday tasks such as reading, writing, crawling or riding a bike.Some children who have difficulty crossing their body’s midlines often struggle with reading, writing, and synchronizing their bodies’ fine and gross motor skills. Often times, maintaining attention and concentrating can be a challenge due to lack of communication between both sides of the brain.

Your child may struggle to cross midline if:

• Your child switches hands when writing, drawing, painting and coloring.
• Your child reverses letters and numbers.
• Your child finds it hard to form letters and numbers with a pen or pencil.
• Your child writes on the left side of the paper with their left hand and on the right side of the paper with their right hand.
• Your child uses different feet to kick a ball.
• Your child has difficulty coordinating gross motor patterns (e.g. crawling, skipping, jumping jacks).
• Your child has difficulties visually scanning from the dominant to the non-dominant side (e.g. reading information on a board).

Ways to help your child to cross midline:

These activities are a great way to develop your child’s bilateral abilities. They can be included in daily routines at home or even incorporated into classroom activities at preschool or school.

• Threading beads, cutting and pasting, folding paper
• Placing finger puppets on one hand and encouraging your child to remove the puppets with the opposite hand
• Banging blocks or percussion instruments together in their midline
• Playing Twister
• Playing Simon Says
• Playing Animal Walks (e.g. crab crawl, frog jump, bunny hop)
• Making streamer or ribbon circles and patterns in front of their midline (use two hands together or one in each hand)
• Marching games using their arms and legs
• Drawing or writing on a horizontal surface (e.g. chalk board, mirror, white board)
• Placing stickers on one arm and encouraging your child to remove them with the opposite hand

As always with kids, be creative and keep it fun! If your child continues to have difficulties with crossing the midline, don’t hesitate to seek help from an Occupational Therapist.

Evidence from brain science suggests that far from being “babyish,” the technique is essential for mathematical achievement.

A few weeks ago I (Jo Boaler) was working in my Stanford office when the silence of the room was interrupted by a phone call. A mother called me to report that her 5-year-old daughter had come home from school crying because her teacher had not allowed her to count on her fingers. This is not an isolated event—schools across the country regularly ban finger use in classrooms or communicate to students that they are babyish. This is despite a compelling and rather surprising branch of neuroscience that shows the importance of an area of our brain that “sees” fingers, well beyond the time and age that people use their fingers to count.

In a study published last year, the researchers Ilaria Berteletti and James R. Booth analyzed a specific region of our brain that is dedicated to the perception and representation of fingers known as the somatosensory finger area. Remarkably, brain researchers know that we “see” a representation of our fingers in our brains, even when we do not use fingers in a calculation. The researchers found that when 8-to-13-year-olds were given complex subtraction problems, the somatosensory finger area lit up, even though the students did not use their fingers. This finger-representation area was, according to their study, also engaged to a greater extent with more complex problems that involved higher numbers and more manipulation. Other researchers have found that the better students’ knowledge of their fingers was in the first grade, the higher they scored on number comparison and estimation in the second grade. Even university students’ finger perception predicted their calculation scores. (Researchers assess whether children have a good awareness of their fingers by touching the finger of a student—without the student seeing which finger is touched—and asking them to identify which finger it is.)

Evidence from both behavioral and neuroscience studies shows that when people receive training on ways to perceive and represent their own fingers, they get better at doing so, which leads to higher mathematics achievement. The tasks we have developed for use in schools and homes (see below) are based on the training programs researchers use to improve finger-perception quality. Researchers found that when 6-year-olds improved the quality of their finger representation, they improved in arithmetic knowledge, particularly skills such as counting and number ordering. In fact, the quality of the 6-year-old’s finger representation was a better predictor of future performance on math tests than their scores on tests of cognitive processing.

Many teachers have been led to believe that finger use is useless and something to be abandoned as quickly as possible.

Neuroscientists often debate why finger knowledge predicts math achievement, but they clearly agree on one thing: That knowledge is critical. As Brian Butterworth, a leading researcher in this area, has written, if students aren’t learning about numbers through thinking about their fingers, numbers “will never have a normal representation in the brain.”

One of the recommendations of the neuroscientists conducting these important studies is that schools focus on finger discrimination—not only on number counting via their fingers but also on helping students distinguish between those fingers. Still, schools typically pay little if any attention to finger discrimination, and to our knowledge, no published curriculum encourages this kind of mathematical work. Instead, thanks largely to school districts and the media, many teachers have been led to believe that finger use is useless and something to be abandoned as quickly as possible. Kumon, for example, an after-school tutoring program used by thousands of families in dozens of countries, tells parents that finger-counting is a “no no” and that those who see their children doing so should report them to the instructor.

Stopping students from using their fingers when they count could, according to the new brain research, be akin to halting their mathematical development. Fingers are probably one of our most useful visual aids, and the finger area of our brain is used well into adulthood. The need for and importance of finger perception could even be the reason that pianists, and other musicians, often display higher mathematical understanding than people who don’t learn a musical instrument.

Teachers should celebrate and encourage finger use among younger learners and enable learners of any age to strengthen this brain capacity through finger counting and use. They can do so by engaging students in a range of classroom and home activities.

The finger research is part of a larger group of studies on cognition and the brain showing the importance of visual engagement with math. Our brains are made up of “distributed networks,” and when we handle knowledge, different areas of the brain communicate with each other. When we work on math, in particular, brain activity is distributed among many different networks, which include areas within the ventral and dorsal pathways, both of which are visual. Neuroimaging has shown that even when people work on a number calculation, such as 12 x 25, with symbolic digits (12 and 25) our mathematical thinking is grounded in visual processing.

A striking example of the importance of visual mathematics comes from a study showing that after four 15-minute sessions of playing a game with a number line, differences in knowledge between students from low-income backgrounds and those from middle-income backgrounds were eliminated.

Number-line representation of number quantity has been shown to be particularly important for the development of numerical knowledge, and students’ learning of number lines is believed to be a precursor of children’s academic success.

Visual math is powerful for all learners. A few years ago Howard Gardner proposed a theory of multiple intelligences, suggesting that people have different approaches to learning, such as those that are visual, kinesthetic, or logical. This idea helpfully expanded people’s thinking about intelligence and competence, but was often used in unfortunate ways in schools, leading to the labeling of students as particular type of learners who were then taught in different ways. But people who are not strong visual thinkers probably need visual thinking more than anyone. Everyone uses visual pathways when we work on math. The problem is it has been presented, for decades, as a subject of numbers and symbols, ignoring the potential of visual math for transforming students’ math experiences and developing important brain pathways.

Did you know that movement and physical activity is an important part of learning? Being active is fun and a brilliant way to supercharge the brain. Scientists are now discovering that moving using your whole body (big, gross-motor movements) can help your brain learn new information and skills!

In fact, a recent research study showed that many children improve at mathematics when their body is engaged in movement while they are being taught. The team at the University of Copenhagen demonstrated that kids learn more when they are allowed to move their whole body. When the teacher allowed body movement relevant to learning the mathematical concept, the kids performed better in standardised mathematical testing. The biggest improvements were shown in children who were considered average or above-average in mathematics ability.

So what does whole-body maths instruction look like with first graders? Well, their teacher packed away the desks and chairs and taught maths to the children by doing things such as:

• making shapes with the body
• shaping the body to make numerals
• doing sums using one another as digits/tokens

And, it appears that whole body movement helps learning in more areas than just mathematics. Researchers at the University of Wollongong showed that preschoolers showed improved learning of foreign words when they enacted the words using their bodies. The children used actions like dancing, jumping and catching while looking at flash cards. The team noted that “Not only did this way of learning prove more effective, it was also more enjoyable for children. And most importantly, it got kids moving, which is not only good for their physical health, it’s also important for their brain development.”

Happy children, happy brains, happy learning!

Reference:
Mikkel M. Beck, Rune R. Lind, Svend S. Geertsen, Christian Ritz, Jesper Lundbye-Jensen, Jacob Wienecke. Motor-Enriched Learning Activities Can Improve Mathematical Performance in Preadolescent Children. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2016; 10 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00645
Mavilidi, MF., Okely, A.D., Chandler, P. et al. Educ Psychol Rev (2015) 27: 413. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-

American Academy of Pediatrics Announces New Recommendations for Children’s Media Use

10/21/2016

Today’s children grow up immersed in digital media, which has both positive and negative effects on healthy development. The nation’s largest group of pediatricians provides new set of recommendations and resources, including an interactive media use planning tool, to help families balance digital and real life from birth to adulthood.

Elk Grove Village, IL -- Recognizing the ubiquitous role of media in children’s lives, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is releasing new policy recommendations and resources to help families maintain a healthy media diet. To support these recommendations, the AAP is publishing an interactive, online tool so families can create a personalized Family Media Use Plan.

The AAP recommends that parents and caregivers develop a family media plan that takes into account the health, education and entertainment needs of each child as well as the whole family.

“Families should proactively think about their children’s media use and talk with children about it, because too much media use can mean that children don’t have enough time during the day to play, study, talk, or sleep,” said Jenny Radesky, MD, FAAP, lead author of the policy statement, “Media and Young Minds,” which focuses on infants, toddlers and pre-school children. “What’s most important is that parents be their child’s ‘media mentor.’ That means teaching them how to use it as a tool to create, connect and learn.” A second policy statement, “Media Use in School-Aged Children and Adolescents,” offers recommendations for children ages 5 to 18, and a technical report, “Children, Adolescents and Digital Media,” provides a review of the scientific literature to support both policies. All three documents will be published in the November 2016 Pediatrics (online October 21).

A panel discussion for journalists about these media recommendations and the new online family media plan tool will be held from 9 - 10 a.m. PST on Oct. 21 in San Francisco, Calif., including the policy authors, Sesame Workshop and Common Sense. At 10:30 a.m. PT, speakers will participate in an AAP Facebook Live event (@AmerAcadPeds) to answer questions from across the country.

The AAP recommends parents prioritize creative, unplugged playtime for infants and toddlers. Some media can have educational value for children starting at around 18 months of age, but it's critically important that this be high-quality programming, such as the content offered by Sesame Workshop and PBS. Parents of young children should watch media with their child, to help children understand what they are seeing.

For school-aged children and adolescents, the idea is to balance media use with other healthy behaviors.

"Parents play an important role in helping children and teens navigate media, which can have both positive and negative effects," said Megan Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH, FAAP, lead author of the policy statement on media use in school-aged children and teens. "Parents can set expectations and boundaries to make sure their children's media experience is a positive one. The key is mindful use of media within a family."

Problems begin when media use displaces physical activity, hands-on exploration and face-to-face social interaction in the real world, which is critical to learning. Too much screen time can also harm the amount and quality of sleep. Organizations like Common Sense Media can help parents evaluate media content and make decisions about what is appropriate for their family.

Among the AAP recommendations:

• For children younger than 18 months, avoid use of screen media other than video-chatting. Parents of children 18 to 24 months of age who want to introduce digital media should choose high-quality programming, and watch it with their children to help them understand what they're seeing.
• For children ages 2 to 5 years, limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programs. Parents should co-view media with children to help them understand what they are seeing and apply it to the world around them.
• For children ages 6 and older, place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviors essential to health.
• Designate media-free times together, such as dinner or driving, as well as media-free locations at home, such as bedrooms.
• Have ongoing communication about online citizenship and safety, including treating others with respect online and offline.

The Family Media Use Plan tool will be launched on HealthyChildren.org on Friday, Oct. 21. A preview version is available for journalists to review at HealthyChildren.org/MediaUsePlan. This link should not be made public until 12:01 a.m. ET Friday, Oct. 21.

Today's generation of children and adolescents is growing up immersed in media. This includes platforms that allow users to both consume and create content, including broadcast and streamed television and movies, sedentary and active video games, social and interactive media that can be creative and engaging, and even highly immersive virtual reality.

"Even though the media landscape is constantly changing, some of the same parenting rules apply," said Yolanda (Linda) Reid Chassiakos, MD, FAAP, lead author of the technical report. "Parents play an important role in helping children and teens navigate the media environment, just as they help them learn how to behave off-line. The AAP wants to provide parents the evidence-based tools and recommendations to help them make their children's media experience a positive one."

For an embargoed copy of the report, or to interview an AAP spokesperson, contact the AAP Department of Public Affairs.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 66,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists ded​icated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org and follow us on Twitter @AmerAcadPeds.

Kindergarten has traditionally been a time for storybooks and building blocks. But in Brookline, teachers and parents are complaining that students spend far too much of their day at their desks like office workers — and not enough time learning through play. Amanda Livengood said she was floored by the pressure-cooker environment her 5-year-old daughter encountered in kindergarten this past school year in Brookline, one of the state’s highest-performing school systems.“It totally knocked her self-esteem down,” she said. “She would come home and say she hates school or she hates reading. She didn’t want to go to school. She was calling herself stupid. If I tried to quiz her on things,she would shut down.”For the past month, Brookline has been embroiled in an emotional debate over whether kindergarten has become too academically demanding, causing anxiety levels of 5- and 6-year-olds to climb.More than two dozen kindergarten teachers signed a five-page letter imploring school officials to bring more joy and play back into the program.

Parents launched an online petition that garnered more than 500 signatures. And the issue has been the subject of School Committee meetings, where teachers wore stickers on their shirts with such statements as “Let Kids Feel Success Not Stress” and “Playing IS Learning.”“We see many of our kindergartners struggle with anxiety about school because they know they are expected to read,” the teachers wrote in their letter to school officials. “A significant body of research exists showing the negative consequences to children’s emotional well-being when they are forced to read before their developing brains make sense of it. Reading sooner does not always mean better.”

School officials, who issued their own letter June 18 defending the kindergarten curriculum, nevertheless say they are open to exploring changes to the program and have already held one meeting with kindergarten teachers. “Kindergarten teachers raised important questions about the balance between constructive play and teacher-organized learning focused on developing foundational literacy skills,” Superintendent Andrew Bott and Deputy Superintendent Nicole Gittens wrote, adding that many teachers do both.“A walk through any given kindergarten classroom will reveal spaces that are rich with print and that fill children with a love of reading,” they wrote. “Children also engage in play-based learning that allows them to grow and practice social skills. Play happens, and children learn through play and teacher-organized activities every day.”At a time when a growing number of teachers and parents nationwide have become fed up with standardized testing and other government mandates to boost student achievement, Brookline has emerged as the latest flashpoint about whether those edicts have gone too far — compelling school systems to pile on more academics in kindergarten to ensure students are achieving at higher levels sooner in subsequent grades.

A retired Cambridge kindergarten teacher, Susan Sluyter, made national headlines five years ago when she wrote her resignation letter after more than 25 years of teaching, deriding the evolution of kindergarten from “hands-on exploration, investigation, joy and love of learning” to “testing, data collection, competition and punishment.”“One would be hard put these days to find joy present in classrooms,” she wrote.Against the backdrop of the debate is a growing stack of research chronicling the rising demands of kindergarten.

For instance, a study published in 2016 — “Is Kindergarten the New First Grade?” — examined public kindergarten classrooms between 1998 and 2010 and found that kindergarten teachers in the later years “devoted more time to advanced literacy and math content, teacher-directed instruction, and assessment, and substantially less time to art, music, science, and child-selected activities.”

Stephanie Jones, a professor of early childhood development at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, said the academic demands of kindergarten are increasing because of two factors: More students are ready to tackle challenging material in kindergarten because of an expansion of high-quality preschool, while school systems nationwide are ratcheting up all their programs, from kindergarten through Grade 12, so that students graduate college- and career-ready.But she added that kindergartens still need to maintain a strong emphasis on play-based learning and other classroom activities that can harness the high energy levels of the 5- and 6-year-olds.“It’s good to have rigorous standards,” she said. “We don’t want to leave kids behind and have low expectations. . . . But rigor has to be developmentally sensitive.”

The shifting demands of kindergarten, Jones said, have created somewhat of an identity crisis for the program as well as widely uneven quality. This fall, data from a long-term early education study that Jones is coleading at Harvard should shed further light on the variation in quality and the balance between play-based learning and traditional desk work.Brookline officials contend they have the right balance. The school system follows the state’s learning standards for literacy, writing, and math.

According to the state website, by the time kindergarten students exit in June, they should know such concepts in math as counting to 100 by ones and tens; writing numbers up to 20; using some basic addition and subtraction; comparing objects by measuring weight, length, and capacity; and naming, describing, and comparing shapes.In literacy, kindergarten students should know how stories and poems are the same or different; how to identify uppercase and lowercase letters; and how to recognize punctuation marks and many common words.But in Brookline, confusion exists over whether the school system has set a higher expectation for kindergartners: knowing how to read.

The kindergarten academic progress reports suggest this expectation. Under instructional reading level, the report says “at this level, your child not only reads with reasonable accuracy and comprehension, but can also articulate that comprehension in oral conversations.” Students are rated on whether they meet, exceed, or fall short of this expectation.But Mary Brown, senior director of teaching and learning, said in an interview that kindergartners do not need to know how to read in order to move on to first grade. She expressed optimism that the issues in kindergarten would be worked out.“Everyone agrees we want balance and project-based learning, and classrooms alive with kids moving around and being curious,” said Brown, a former principal. “We want to make sure teachers feel supported.”

Carol Schraft, a longtime Brookline resident and former principal, said it was remarkable to see kindergarten teachers lead a rebellion. “Kindergarten teachers tend to be timid,” she said. Discontent with changes to the kindergarten program has increased in recent years as the school district has tried to remedy uneven quality among classrooms that often resulted from teachers having greater latitude to develop their own lesson plans and discretion in how they used classroom time.The district’s effort has brought some standardized approaches, but teachers say there is now too little time for play-based learning.

Vicki Milstein, who retired last month as principal of early education in Brookline, said she was pleased that Brookline educators and parents were shining a light for the rest of the country on the challenges facing kindergarten.“I think there is a shared wish for children to have a wonderful and appropriate and engaging experience,” she said. “It’s no one’s goal to stress children in the first phase of the continuum.”She added, “We want all children to learn and achieve at high levels. The question is what is the best way to do that.”

Dealing with Media Overload

About this resource

The following article was taken from a publication by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, following Hurricane Katrina. It remains an excellent resource to help families manage the information their children see and hear.

Because of the 24/7 news cycle, there are always tragedies in the news. Throughout this difficult year, news reports contain images and language which are inappropriate for young children. Most adults are able to distinguish between important, relevant information and the recycled variety of news. Young children aren’t capable of making this distinction, so it’s our job to provide an emotionally safe environment for them – whether the media attention is on a true tragedy or just “hype.”

Filter the information
Families and others who care for young children need to provide comfort, reassurance, and stability at all times, but especially during times of stress. When a news story does not directly affect them or their families, young children really have no “need to know.” Well-meaning adults often give young children too much information.

Turn off the TV
The most important thing families and other adults can do is make sure children aren't over-exposed to media coverage, especially when it features disaster. More than any other action, avoiding media coverage will protect children from confusing and disturbing images.

When young children witness troubling events, directly or on television, they are likely to feel afraid and confused. Images of destruction and suffering can cause high anxiety and even panic. Young children are most fearful when they do not understand what is happening around them. Their strong feelings and reactions are natural and should be expected. Adults need to reassure children that they are there to help them and to keep them safe.

Monitor your own feelings
Helping children deal with their reactions to the events can be challenging when adults are struggling with their own feelings. However, we should remember that young children are very perceptive and will quickly recognize and respond to the fear and anxiety that adults are experiencing. If you need to talk about your feelings, call a friend or seek support from other adults.

Answer their questions
Even very young children may hear about news stories and have questions. All of us gain a sense of control by talking about things that bother or confuse us. Talking with a supportive adult can help children clarify their feelings. More than anything, children need to know that you will keep them safe, and the people who have been hurt are being helped and cared for as well.

Adults need to answer children’s questions without creating more anxiety by providing unnecessary details. It’s a difficult balance – talking with other parents and teachers will help. Thinking about your responses ahead of time, and even rehearsing them, is a good idea.

Maintain your routine
Children need consistency and security, especially when the world seems confusing and unpredictable. Emphasize familiar routines: make sure your children get appropriate sleep, exercise and nutrition. Make time for the things that bring you comfort: extra hugs and time with family will help children feel more secure. This is good advice for all of us.

If you or anyone in your family needs emotional support, please reach out to your center Director. We have resources to assist children and families in crisis.

ADHD in Toddlers: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment

Though no medical guidelines exist for diagnosing ADHD in toddlers, preschool-aged children may be evaluated and treated for attention deficit disorder. Learn the telltale signs of ADHD in preschoolers, and research available and appropriate treatments for this young age group.

BY MICHELE NOVOTNI, PH.D.MEDICALLY REVIEWED BY WILLIAM DODSON, M.D., LF-APA ON AUGUST 28, 2019

Can Toddlers Have ADHD?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood(1). A 2016 national survey found that 9.4% of children in the United States have ever had an ADHD diagnosis, including 2.4% of children between 2 and 5 years of age (1).

For many years, only children between ages 6 and 12 were covered under the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. That all changed in 2011, when the AAP expanded its guidelines to cover preschoolers and teens — ages 4 through 18.

Though no clinical guidelines exist for diagnosing ADHD in toddlers under the age of 4, a growing number of studies suggest that ADHD symptoms first show up during these early years(2). And, while uncommon, some children do receive an ADHD diagnosis before the age of 4.

What are the Signs of ADHD in Toddlers and Preschoolers?

Hyperactivity and impulsivity — core symptoms of ADHD — are developmentally appropriate for toddlers, which makes it all the more difficult to determine if ADHD is present in that age group.

In preschoolers ages 4 to 5, though, the most common ADHD symptom is hyperactivity, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)(3). DSM-5 criteria can be applied to diagnose preschool-aged children for ADHD. The following symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention must be present for at least six months to merit a diagnosis:

[Could Your Child Have ADHD? Take This Test]

• Trouble holding attention on tasks or play activities
• Fidgeting, squirming, unable to sit still
• Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
• Blurting out answers or has trouble waiting their turn
• Often does not follow through on instructions (gets sidetracked or loses focus)
• Forgetful in daily activities
• Seeming to be always on the go

These symptoms also apply to children over the age of 5 when considering an ADHD diagnosis. For preschoolers, the key is to figure out if your child’s behavior is developmentally age-appropriate.

Dr. Mark Mahone, director of the department of neuropsychology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, recommends that parents look for these additional signs of ADHD in pre-school aged children(4):

• Frequently aggressive with playmates
• Cannot hop on one foot by age 4
• Loses interest after engaging in an activity for a few moments
• Has been injured because of running or otherwise moving when told not to do so

[Click to Read: 4 Bad Reasons to Delay an ADHD Evaluation for Your Preschooler]

Dr. Tanya E. Froehlich, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, recommends taking note of the following to tell if a preschooler is showing signs of ADHD(5):

• Any comments about the child’s behavior in their preschool or daycare
• Your child’s ability to follow one or two-step directions without getting distracted (i.e. hang up your coat and put away your shoes)
• Your child’s difficulty with “circle time” and other group activities
• Whether you have avoided taking your child out in public, even to family-friendly places, because of his or her behavior

How is ADHD Diagnosed in Toddlers and Preschoolers?

An ADHD diagnosis in children is made in part by asking teachers and other caregivers about the child’s behavior in different settings — for example, at home and at school.

The AAP, however, signals some challenges in identifying ADHD symptoms in preschoolers:

• Preschoolers are not likely to have a dedicated observer if they attend certain preschools or childcare programs
• Preschool and/or daycare staff might be less knowledgeable about ADHD symptoms than are elementary school teachers

Parents may be asked by clinicians to complete a parent-training program or to place their child in a qualified preschool program before confirming an ADHD diagnosis. Both environments could be appropriate settings for identifying ADHD symptoms in preschoolers.

Even then, some ADHD-like symptoms may actually be indicative of other conditions. A child’s inability to follow directions, for example, may be due to a hearing problem or a learning disability. Behavioral problems in children can also emerge after experiencing stressors, like parental separation or illness. A full ADHD evaluation will rule out any other conditions.

How is ADHD Treated in Toddlers and Preschoolers? Is ADHD Medication Safe?

For preschool-aged children under age 6, the AAP recommends:

• Behavior therapy as the first line of treatment.
• Methylphenidate if behavioral therapy is ineffective and serious problems persist

Behavioral training can be implemented by parents or teachers, and involves therapists working with both groups to teach them skills that help the child better manage symptoms of ADHD. The Preschool ADHD Treatment Study (PATS), a 2006 landmark study on children ages 3 to 5.5 with ADHD, found that behavior therapy alone drastically improves ADHD symptoms in preschool-aged children(6).

The same study also found that methylphenidate can effectively reduce ADHD symptoms for children in this age group. The caveat, however, is that the participants in the study all had moderate to severe dysfunction. The AAP, therefore, recommends that clinicians prescribe the stimulant only if behavioral therapy doesn’t work and the child continues to experience significant problems.

This recommendation does seem to be followed in the United States. According to a 2016 national parent survey, 18% of children with ADHD in the 2 to 5 age group were currently taking ADHD medication, while 60% received behavioral treatment in the past 12 months(1). Still, 2014 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that more than 10,000 toddlers 2 or 3 years old were being medicated for ADHD — outside of pediatric guidelines(7).

It’s important to weigh the risks of starting medication at an early age. Children under 6 are more likely than older children to experience side effects from ADHD medication, like increased heart rate, trouble sleeping, and loss of appetite(8).

ADHD in preschoolers may be managed with the following natural strategies as well:

• Finding activities that soothe and settle (avoiding busy areas like shopping malls or crowded parks).
• Engaging in physical activities to help burn off energy prior to attending public events.
• Using a leash or harness to keep the child safe.

[Read This Next: “My Child Was Diagnosed at Age 3 — and Thank God She Was.”]

Sources

1. Danielson ML, Bitsko RH, Ghandour RM, Holbrook JR, Kogan MD, Blumberg SJ. Prevalence of parent-reported ADHD diagnosis and associated treatment among U.S. children and adolescents, 2016. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2018;47(2):199–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2017.1417860
2. Hallie R. Brown & Elizabeth A. Harvey (2019) Psychometric Properties of ADHD Symptoms in Toddlers, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 48:3, 423-439, DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2018.1485105
3. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/index.shtml
4. Is it ADHD or Typical Toddler Behavior? Ten Early Signs of ADHD Risk in Preschool Age Children. Retrieved from https://www.kennedykrieger.org/stories/Is-it-adhd-or-typical-toddler-behavior-ten-early-signs-adhd-risk-preschool-age-children
5. Froehlich, T. (2017, Oct. 3). 9 Questions to Ask When You Suspect Your Preschooler May Have ADHD. Retrieved from https://blog.cincinnatichildrens.org/healthy-living/child-development-and-behavior/9-questions-suspect-preschooler-adhd
6. Greenhill L, Kollins S, Abikoff H, McCracken J, Riddle M, Swanson J. Efficacy and safety of immediate-release methylphenidate treatment for preschoolers with ADHD. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2006;45(11):1284–1293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000235077.32661.61
7. Schwarz, A. (2014, May 16). Thousands of Toddlers Are Medicated for A.D.H.D., Report Finds, Raising Worries. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/us/among-experts-scrutiny-of-attention-disorder-diagnoses-in-2-and-3-year-olds.html
8. Behavior Therapy First for Young Children with ADHD. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/features/adhd-awareness.html

Updated on March 22, 2021

NY Project Hope

How to Tame Your Sensory Seeker
https://napacenter.org/how-to-tame-your-sensory-seeker/

Are you wondering if your child is a sensory seeker? Children who have sensory processing difficulties may move around a lot, which can get them into trouble. But the reason they never seem to slow down is because their bodies are telling them they need to move, move, move!

• Skip ahead: Sensory seeking activities

What is Sensory Input?

Essentially, sensory input describes anything that can be perceived using your senses! Sensory input describes the response in a sensory organ (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin) when it receives stimuli. The definition of sensory input is “the stimulation of a sense organ, causing a nerve impulse to travel to its appropriate destination in the brain or spinal cord.”

Sensory Seeking Behaviors in Toddlers and Children

Children have a variety of sensory needs! Some children can be more sensitive to certain sensory experiences, whereas other children have higher thresholds and require more sensory input to register the sensory information. Sensory seeking behaviors typically include poor balance, coordination, and awareness of their body in space. Kids with sensory challenges or a sensory seeking disorder may also have decreased awareness of vestibular and/or proprioceptive input.

To compensate for this, sensory seeking children will often seek out lots of sensory input to give their bodies more feedback to these systems.

They’ll do this by jumping, spinning, swinging, crashing, squishing and other movements. Other sensory seeking behaviors include trying to touch everything in their environment or running into/bumping into objects or people in their environment.

Understanding Your Sensory Seeking Toddler

Sensory processing is the way your body takes in sensory information from the world and interprets this information in the brain, to respond. Our bodies are constantly receiving sensory input, processing it, and adjusting our responses, without us even realizing it is happening! The way sensory input is perceived and responded to varies from child to child. Sometimes sensory information goes to the brain but there is difficulty in organizing it to produce the appropriate responses.

Learn more: Sensory Behaviors Explained

Sensory Seeking Activities

Providing sensory-rich experiences is integral in helping your little one to make sense of and interact with the world around them. The sensory seeking activities listed below and in the video will help organize toddlers or children who are constantly wanting to move their bodies!

1. Use an air cushion for movement while your child stays seated during school work
2. Have your child perform work activities like pushing a shopping cart, carrying groceries, or pulling a wagon
3. Encourage them to play on the playground on climbing equipment or by sliding or swinging
4. Encourage them to swing or jump with consistent, rhythmic patterns (for calming linear input, place the child on a swing and swing them in a back-and-forth linear motion)
5. Let them squish in big pillows for whole body sensory input (DIY sensory crash pad here!)
6. Providing deep pressure by rolling a therapy ball along the child’s back

An Overview of the Senses

Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose – from your head, shoulders to your knees and toes, most of us are familiar with the 5 senses:

• Sight (visual system)
• Hearing (auditory system)
• Taste (gustatory system)
• Smell (olfactory system)
• Touch (tactile system)

But did you know we actually have two other systems!?

• The vestibular sense is the ability to sense movement and balance. Sensors in the ear send feedback to the brain to tell us the direction and speed of movement at any point in time. The vestibular system works with the visual system to keep us upright and balanced when standing or moving.
• Proprioception is the ability to know where our body is in space. Feedback from the muscles and joints helps us keep a good sense of position even when we’re not looking. If you were to close your eyes and have someone move your arm, you would know exactly what position it was in, even without looking. That’s your proprioceptive system at work!

Sensory Tools That You Can Use:

• Weighted vests
• Ankle weights
• Weighted blankets
• Weighted stuffed animals
• Sensory toys
• Sensory bins

Additional Sensory Seeking Resources From NAPA Therapists:

• What is a Sensory Processing Disorder?
• SPD Checklist and Symptoms
• Sensory Behaviors Explained
• Beginners Guide to a Sensory Diet

About NAPA Center

At NAPA Center, we take an individualized approach to pediatric therapy because we understand that each child is unique with very specific needs. We embrace differences with an understanding that individualized programs work better. For this reason, no two therapeutic programs are alike. If your child needs services, we will work closely with you to select the best therapies for them, creating a customized program specific to your child’s needs and your family’s goals. Let your child’s journey begin today by contacting us to learn more.