Sarah learned some things better from shows she was interested in than hours of ABA therapy at .hr ~6 hours a day...Barney is all about social skills, manners and how to be a friend...I hate it..it's corny as heck but Sarah learned everything he said and learned many social rules watching him.. Baby bumble bee taught her to not only talk and say words but I feel it helped her to decode reading as well. All singalong shows she imitated and used the phrases appropriately..they seemed to click for her in ways that therapy couldnt do all the time.. we did sesame street because she loved Elmo & Ernie and learn all her shapes, colors, and numbers, letters and so much more~Our kids are so visual and need repetition to learn things...I got what worked for her:) I also love the Modelmekids.com dvd's made just for our kids that are real visual...all social modeling skills and manners for playdates, school...Preschool Power got her to tie her shoes, put on her jacket, pour juice, make sandwiches..using real preschool kids and easy fun projects to make...She loved them! She rarely watches TV now and still not fond of cartoons..but when she was younger we used them in therapy...narrarating what what happening with her and engaging her the whole time. Sometimes we would stop tape and act out what we saw...the Backyardiagans are ALL pretend playthemes: princess, pirates, cowboys, secret agents...she learned how to play like her peers watching these shows..with a little help:) I think if she wanted to watch something over and over like a stim then TV would be a problem but she never did this..nor did she rewind same scenes over and over. I wished I could get her to watch Disney shows like "little mermaid or Cinderella, Snow White..like most little girls but she has no interest in them. The new computer animated shows interest her like "Surf's up" a week ago she loved it!
We were just talking about Max & Ruby and autism, and in my googling, I bumped into something that said for Aspie kids and other PDD kids, TV watching is bad because it has them spend more time spaced out than dealing with the real world. Supposedly, you are supposed to completely unplug the TV.
I can see this clearly, but my sticking point is that I think Cole picks up on conversations between characters and he actually seems to improve his grammar & sentence structure when he's had a dose of TV. He never saw a single show until age 18 months, then only a 30 minute Maisy video or Disney Channel for another year. Now, he can have 1.5 hours, sometimes 2.
Cole steals phrases and uses them appropriately, then builds on them. Yeah, I know the phrases are delayed echolalia, but he'll yak out a solid sentence in the right context.
At the end of his therapy session the other day, he turned to his speech therapist, locked eyes, put his hand on her forearm, smiled, and said "thanks for your help today, Miss Kim!" He did it again today, but he had been talking about Blues Clues immediately prior, and yes, that IS where he learned it!
This week I had a huge presentation to prepare and a dinner party for 20, so Noggin did some serious entertaining in our house for about two days! He is conversing his little backside off about the shows.
Anybody else see POSITIVES from limited and specific TV watching? I am confused.
One of the non-verbal children I work with learned his alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors from TV. We realized he knew the shapes/colors, but we all of a sudden found out that he knew letters/numbers without ever being taught.My youngest son loved Dora. He picked up on sequencing from the show, and I was thrilled when I overheard him answering her questions (in English & Spainish). He totally got into participating in the show. With his significant verbal delays, this was a VERY big deal at the time.
so funny you bring this up. I became very anti-TV as soon as we got Ryan's diagnosis but slowly introduced it back in as a reward. I now find that he learns so much from Blues Clues too- totally picking up phrases and using them correctly.
Are there any other shows that have been successful for teaching lanuage to your kids? I know we dont want to stick them in front of thr TV all day, but sometimes we need the break and if it can teach our kids a thing or two, whats the harm in a 30 minute episode?
I like the Backyardigans because it shows the characters engaging in imaginative play. I also love Richard Scary's learning videos. Both of my kids picked up a lot from them.As beccaposie stated, knowing about the "in" shows and websites can be important socially -- if they don't know what kids are talking about, they can't easily join the conversations and may even experience a sense of exclusion or isolation.
That also means shows that are age-appropriate, so autistic kids might need a little help moving away from preschooler-tv. The Magic Schoolbus and Cyberchase are examples of educational tv that are made for bigger kids, although I'm not claiming that these shows are what all the kids are talking about....
I even saw a poorly-backed study claiming that TV was responsible for the epidemic rise in autism. The findings were based on the fact that kids in rainy areas that stayed indoors more had higher rates of autism. Call me crazy, but that sounds pretty unscientific to me. :)Yes I totally do. My little guy used to be an avid noggin watcher, unlimited viewing. I noticed that it helped him to ask questions and think about relationships. He began to understand feelings. To this day, Seseme Steet is a favorite of his. Definitely, feeds into his creativity. He loves singing the songs. Also, the Berenstain Bears have taught him about strangers. Whenever, we are in the street and someone says something to him he always responds "Can't talk to you...you are a stranger" I believe the right television show is a great learning tool.
Mine, too, learned a TON from watching Dora, as well as movies. BUT I do limit her time with them, and I limit her to DVDs (fewer ADS!).
I think it is important to be selective, and limit time, but it definitely has value (and NOT just for the kids -- MOMS need breaks, too!).
I'm not against TV, unless a child is watching way too much and it isYou know your child best, and don't let someone with an opinion convince you that tv is all bad for all autistic kids.
Tv is very engaging, and thus can be very effective in teaching our kids useful things. My kids watch tv and I more or less watch with them so I can ask questions or otherwise reinforce those lessons.
I try to limit how much the tv is on, but if I slip up and my autistic son gets too much screen time, he gets physically restless. Then I send him outside to swing and ride his bike for good sensory input.
You as the parent are in the best position to set appropriate limits based on observations of your unique child.
My son does not watch alot of tv, But when he does I monitor it , he is going to school in September, so I think its important For him to know who Sponge bob and other popular characters are.
The principal recommended we buy him a webkin,small stuffies with a code for a web site,They are all the rage in Kindergarten they even had a webkin Party last year.He doesn't want one.
Linda
I completely see both sides of this. My son does seem more spaced out while watching tv, but his scripting is in context and I believe a prequel to better overall communication. He probably watches 1 to 1/2 hours on a day when we are mostly home. If he seems overly obsessed with a show and repeating it a lot, I take it away.
Lastly, what is a parents sanity worth??? Sometimes I need him to watch a 30 min show for me to get a mini break I think EVERYONE spends too much time spaced out in front of the TV, but it can have a more pronounced effect on ASD kids. Still, I fondly recall watching some shows as a child and feeling very content, like Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, etc. I'd say limit the time and content but don't disallow it altogether, as some shows can have a positive impact on your child.I let my son watch two 1/2 hour shows max daily. One of his favorite shows is Noggin's Pinky Dinky Doo. It's all about a girl storytelling fantastic tales.
My son started telling his own stories as a result of watching this show.
He begins each story with "One day..." and ends it with "The End."
He often does it in long car rides when he's got nothing else to do.
He rarely copies Pinky Dinky Doo's stories. He creates his own on subjects he likes. Sometimes he picks real-life incidents and incorporates these into his stories. Once I wanted to warm up a hard boiled egg that had been refrigerated. I was in such a rush that I let it microwave for too long. Suddenly there was an explosion in the microwave and my son and I opened the microwave door to find exploded egg everywhere. He laughed so hard. So one story went something like this:
"One day mommie wanted to make me an egg. So she put it in the microwave to warm it up. But then suddenly there was an explosion! And we said, "Hey, what was that?!" So we opened the microwave door and there was egg EVERYWHERE (now he laughs again)! Mommie said, "I don't know how that could have happened!" But I told mommie, "Mommie I think you accidentally put a super duper power battery and not a regular one in the microwave. I think that's how it happened. And mommie said, "Oh, yea, I DID! I forgot that I did." The End. "
It's a simple story but my husband and I get a kick out of these stories of his. And it all started with a TV show!!!
Ran across this article today on ww.autism.about.com.
Source: http://autism.about.com/od/inspirationideas/tp/TVOK.htm
Of all the academic stuff out there, the Leapfrog videos (Letter Factory, Talking Words Factory, and Code Word Capers) have been the best.
Cole has always loved books and these videos have helped him learn to read in a way that my flashcards and old fashioned attempts haven't. He is thrilled to be able to read books aloud to us.
Personally since my son is very visual, and learns well passively. I have found he picks up a lot from Television. Language, appropriate responses (social cues) , He's pre-reading, Logo's understands products. He can tell you what almost any packaging of almost any food product(food is very motivating for him) from T.v. commercials. If I didn't expose him he would only know the products I personally buy which aren't much. He's Pre-reading and can make choices in a store from this exposure. This is a very important life-skill. And I also always have the "close captioning" on hoping his very visual skills will pick up on the words. Besides it's usually very loud in the room and can't hear the tv anyway.
And..... For social skills, if your kid knows about a popular tv show, he has something to talk about with peers at school. Personally my parents didn't let me watch much tv and I had almost nothing to talk about with my peers. I felt left out.
Since we've been talking about this, I've been hyper vigilant in observing Cole during DVD or Noggin shows. I do usually watch the tube with the boys and try to make it a social event, learning opportunity, and then when he talks about the show days later, I can join the perseveration then redirect it.
But if I back off on my immediate presence (right now they are watching the Incredibles with DH while it pours rain), Cole talks more and more to his brother about the show! He is showing excellent joint attention with his little brother these days, and his MLU (mean length of utterance) is definitely longer than it was 6 months ago.
Yet, if he watches something that revs him up (Tom & Jerry or Spongebob), it seems to interrupt his sleep! Falls asleep fine, but he's up at 2 or 4 talking about you know what!
Yes re-reading the original post, I DO think that some knowledge of TV is culturally important for kids ... personally I DO NOT keep track of ML Sports, but I know it would very helpful i nmy workplace, to do so ... and TV (well videos) has taught my kids LOADS of culturally-important stuff that they take away and incorporate into dramatic play.
The other night I saw my son "cranking" in front of a playground car, he told me, to get it started. After questioning, it turns out his SISTER taught him this (from like what, 1905?), in imitation of a scene from one of "her" movies ... Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
And finally, psychologically, ANY drama is a way of exploring emotions and social situations vicariously. Better vicariously, than not at all (which it would be, not at all, with some kids who,like mine, are stuck in parallel play! LOL).
WOW -- GREAT article, Norway mom! And yes, I do feel TV has done all those things for US! (except, ADVERTISINGShelley, Baby bumblebee taught Nikolas decoding as well, I'm pretty sure that's where he learned it. He probably has well over a hundred site words, and that is where it started.