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Classic
building
blocks beat
media toys
Toddlers
show improved
language
skills, study
finds
By Sarah
Schmidt
Winnipeg Free
Press
Nov 10 2006
OTTAWA --
Forget all the
media products
for babies on
the market and
go for the
classic
building
blocks,
suggests a new
study linking
playing with
blocks with
improved
language
acquisition in
toddlers.
The Child
Health
Institute at
the University
of Washington
released
results
Thursday from
a six-month
clinical trial
showing
middle- and
lower-income
children 1.5
to 2.5 years
of age who
engage in
block play
scored
significantly
higher on an
internationally
recognized
scale
measuring
toddlers'
language
development.
The team of
researchers,
led by
pediatrician
Dr. Dimitri
Christakis,
also found on
any given day
these children
were more than
80 per cent
less likely to
watch
television
than children
in the control
group, who did
not receive
blocks.
Noting "an
increasing
number of
media-based
products are
making
unsubstantiated
claims they
can make
children
smarter, more
literate, or
more musical,"
the study
takes direct
aim at
companies like
Walt Disney's
Baby Einstein
Co., which
markets a line
of DVDs for
newborns and
toddlers.
"It's a
critical
period in a
young child's
development,
and everybody
is trying to
optimize that
development,"
Christakis
said in an
interview.
"Parents are
inundated with
messages that
are totally
unsubstantiated
and totally
ungrounded in
cognitive
theory. This
study tried to
demonstrate
experimentally
that there are
particular
toys that do
help cognitive
development.
The burden
should be on
toy
manufacturers
to prove their
claims."
The study
included
toddlers from
175
English-speaking
homes. They
were divided
into two
groups. The
first group
received two
sets of
building
blocks, a pack
of 80 blocks
and a pack of
specialty
blocks that
included
people and
cars. Their
parents
received
suggestions of
things to do
with their
child and
blocks, such
as sorting by
colour and
stacking them.
The parents
completed
diaries over
the six-month
period to keep
track of the
frequency with
which their
children
played with
the blocks,
engaged in
other types of
play and
watched
television.
Montreal-based
MEGA Brands
provided the
blocks and
funded the
study; the
company was
not involved
in its design
or analysis of
the data.
"We want to
make sure
there's
authentic
research and
supporting
data about
developmental
play. The
claims that
are made on
some of these
products, it's
too much,"
said Vic
Bertrand,
executive
vice-president
and chief
operating
officer for
MEGA Brands.
Children in
the control
group did not
receive
blocks,
although some
already had
them in their
home.
Fifty-seven
per cent of
children in
the
intervention
group had
block play
reported in
their diaries,
compared to 12
per cent in
the control
group.
The key
finding
indicates
playing with
blocks leads
to a
statistically
and clinically
significant
increase in
language
acquisition.
The study
found the
children from
middle- and
lower-income
families in
the
intervention
group scored
15 percentage
points higher
on the
MacArthur-Bates
Communicative
Development
Inventories,
which measures
toddlers'
language
development.
The study's
television
viewing
results were
also good
news, said
Christakis,
whose previous
research on
watching TV in
early
childhood
associated it
with language
and cognitive
delay as well
as attention
problems.
"I'm not
anti-TV, I'm
pro-child
development.
Television can
be a good
thing if used
appropriately.
But at this
age, there
really is no
benefit," said
Christakis,
co-author of
Elephant in
the Living
Room: From
Toddlers to
Teens, What
the Latest
Science Tells
us About the
Effects of
Television on
Our Children's
Development.
His position
is consistent
with the
American
Academy of
Pediatrics,
which
recommends no
television for
children under
the age of
two. (The
Canadian
Paediatrics
Society does
not make any
recommendation
related to age
and
television.)
Mary Frances
MacLellan-Wright
said she
doesn't
believe the
marketing
pitch by
companies such
as Baby
Einstein and
Brainy Baby,
which claim
their DVDs can
stimulate
cognitive
development.
And as a big
fan of blocks
for her
three-year old
son, Alistair,
she finds the
new study's
results
interesting.
But the
Edmonton
mother also
introduced
baby videos to
her son when
he was about
nine months
old.
"It isn't
helpful for
kids, but it
gives mothers
a 30-minute
break," said
MacLellan-Wright.
As a toddler,
her son
watched the
occasional
video -- slow
moving and not
over-stimulating.
"It lets him
just chill
out. His day
care is just
so
stimulating,
he needs some
down time.
It's not going
to change his
life
academically
and it's not
going to hurt
him."
With the
completion of
the language
acquisition
study, MEGA
Brands plans
to commission
a national
study looking
at block play,
special
reasoning and
kids'
attention
spans
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