The Magic of Play Webinar 

Let one of your providers know if you'd like to watch and then we will send you the Zoom link!

 Learning through Play

From Sesame Street in Communities: "Children love to play, and believe it or not, they’re learning as they play. They practice social skills like sharing and empathy. They learn to think critically when they listen to instructions or remember steps. And they learn positive ways to express their emotions. There are so many ways to play. Imaginative or dramatic play can be especially exciting to work into your daily routines." 

Resources

For Printable Play Cards with ideas for play by age group

Visit this website: https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Learning_PRINT_PlayCards.pdf

For ideas to add language into play 

Visit Word Play on this website on Sesame Street in Communities (x out of the first screen and it should be in the screen behind):  https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/learning-through-play/?activity=word-play 

For the benefits of giggling together with your children

Visit Silly Power on this website on Sesame Street in Communities  (x out of the first screen and it should be in the screen behind): https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/family-bonding/?activity=silly-power

For even more resources and information, visit semsamestreetincommunities.org

 You Are Not Your Child's Therapist with Lisa Rawley, Developmental Specialist in Davis Early Intervention

Lisa Rawley, a developmental specialist in Davis Early Intervention with over 20 years of experience working with children with specials needs, speaks on the podcast "The Rare Life" providing advice and ideas and the feeling that parents do not have to feel like they need to be their child's therapist. They are mom, dad, grandma, grandpa (whom ever is the child's caregiver).  She says all the things a parent/caregiver needs to work on in order to help their child to reach their potential can mostly happen during their daily routines. This takes the pressure off of the the feeling that they have to be their child's therapist with the need to schedule specific times a day to provide their child therapy. 

For more advice and ideas, listen to the full podcast. Copy and past the link below into the URL and then scroll down through episodes until you find:

#4: You Are Not Your Child’s Therapist with Developmental Specialist Lisa Rawley

6/25/2020

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Kids--Family-Podcasts/The-Rare-Life-p1321177/

Info on the podcast:

The podcast "The Rare Life" is conducted by a special needs mom, Madeline, as she shares her own experiences and take-aways from her life raising a son who was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder and from other parents who share their own stories and advice of loving and raising a child with special needs. There are also professionals who share advice, ideas, and solutions to help parents navigate the challenges, difficulties, and triumphs that come when raising children with special needs. 

Special Needs Moms Support Group

You are invited to a special needs moms support group. These meetings happen monthly and virtual through Zoom until further notice. The meetings are for all moms and children of all ages and special needs.

The goal of these meetings is to uplift and create friendships. 

This group was created and is directed by the non-profit, We Are Brave Together. It is a non-profit based out of California. This is their first pilot group in Utah and is facilitated by a special needs mom from Utah, Madeline Cheney. 

Sign up to be given the Zoom codes and reminders at the link below.

 https://www.wearebravetogether.com/store/p80/July_Zoom_Support_Group_7%2F15%2F20_UTAH.html

Parenting a Special Needs Child in a Pandemic

                                                         

                                                                      (picture from the article below)

In an article in Human Parts called "Special Needs Parenting in the Age of Pandemic" by Sean Patrick Hughes, a US Naval serviceman, who endured many hardships through deployments for our country, and a father of a special needs son speaks candidly about his experiences in the Navy and of raising a son with autism through this pandemic. He provides some great insights on how to make it day to day through what might seem like the hardest time in life.  

He says:

"While the journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step, the journey of a long, hardcore, truly tough experience starts with a step of a different sort. That of acknowledging your reality. Owning it. Making it a part of you. Wearing it, as Tyrion Lannister says, like a cloak that protects you against the fragile and meaningless luxuries of another time.

Once you get there, you’re free to move on to three valuable thoughts that can get you through just about anything.

1. Every moment is just a moment. Every day is just a day. You can only live them one at a time. If you look at all the troubles you are about to encounter in any long and difficult endeavor and stack them up on top of you at once, you will collapse. The burden is too heavy.

See every moment for what it is. One moment. It begins. It ends. Don’t overvalue its joy or its hardship. Don’t project any reality as representative of some permanent future. As soon as you do, you’ve let water seep into the crack. When the real hard winter comes, it will freeze and split your world wide open. That’s when you quit. Except you can’t quit what you can’t quit. And all there is from there is suffering.

2. Be grateful. It doesn’t matter what you are going through. Gratitude applies. If you can’t think of anything, then spend some time with the miracle that is existence.

Grab the dirt beneath your feet. Breathe the air around you. Catch the light that shines off of everything you see. Realize the infinite space and time it all had to travel to be here for you to experience. Realize the millions of ways the matter that is you could have been organized for you not to exist.

Entropy is the natural order of the universe. Celebrate the forces that stave it off to create the cosmically unlikely event that is existence. If you spend some time with that thought, you’re ready to celebrate the unlikely miracle that is your existence. And you can’t help but feel gratitude.

3. See yourself in the service of caring for your child. It’s not a long list of tedious things you shouldn’t have to deal with. It’s an opportunity to serve your child.

We weren’t sitting in the bush in Africa getting our" (butts) "handed to us by physics and nature. We were serving the American people. And if you don’t think that serving your special needs child is as honorable as military service, you’ve read one too many Navy SEAL books. Those guys would tell you the same. Trust me, I know them all.

I’ve cleaned more crappers and written more admin reports than I’ve gone on combat patrols by a factor of 100. That was service, too. Through the lens of service, the tedious becomes honorable. Let that all sink in for a second. Then let’s bring it back to now.

We’re early on in this crisis. None of us know how long we’ll be here. Special needs parents are looking up at a mountain that’s higher than everyone else. For those of you with just good old fashioned standard-issue kids, all of this applies too, because lord knows eight weeks of lockdown with them isn’t easy either.

Keep these thoughts in the front of your mind. Pray them if that’s your thing. I do — it works. When your world gets small and tough and you’ve come to the conclusion there’s no way out of what’s coming, remind yourself:

1. Take it one day at a time.
2. Be grateful.
3. Serve others.

That’s it. That’s all there is. Anything else is a sales pitch. Now go forward and do hard things."

To read more from his article, check out the link below.

https://humanparts.medium.com/special-needs-parenting-in-the-age-of-pandemic-e0c9320c5a58

Heroes in Your Neighborhood - A Sesame Street Video

In this time of uncertainty, there are things that remain certain. Things we can be grateful for!

The link below is a Sesame Street video for children about the Heroes in their Neighborhood.  These will help children realize those who remain certain in their world, those that are here to help us. These are EMTs, grocers, doctors and nurses, pharmacists, and many others.

You can help your children learn how important these people are and to give thanks to them for their service to us, for their certainty and reliability in these uncertain times.

Watch this video with your children and help them think of ways they could say thanks.

https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/activities/heroes-in-your-neighborhood/

The Magic of Play

Helping Parents to Help Their Picky Eaters

Many developmental psychologists say to offer children a variety of things but also to involve the children in the process.

In a study, researchers found that children were more likely to eat food they were involved in making like salads and desserts.

They suggest making things kids can assemble like salads and tacos.  They can choose what they want to put on. (protein and other toppings.)

Their biggest tip is to start small.  Let your child put a little dressing on lettuce so they feel a part of and take ownership of what they made to eat. It will motivate them to eat it if they made it.

Give yourself and your child time to adjust to this.  They suggest not starting on a busy weekend where there is so much going on that you just want to get food on the table.

Information gathered from the article "Help for Picky Eaters (And Their Parents, Too!)" from General Health & Wellness, Nutrition  May 28, 2019

Research from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666318308419

____________________________________________________________________________

Some more ideas...

As we are getting closer to summer months and gardens, if you plant a garden, you can let your child/children help pick the food and prepare it for their meal (wash, peel, etc.). 

You can also let your child/children help get food items at the grocery store.  Help them make a small list for themselves of items they can find in the store when you are out and about. This will help them be more a part of the process of getting and preparing meals for them.

Some more ideas are to check out books at the library about food and read them to your child/children, sing songs that talk about food, and do art with food (potato stamps, fruit necklaces, panting with a dip and objects like carrot sticks, bananas, apple slices, celery, etc.

Another fun idea is to let your child/children create a character on their plate with their food. Peas for the eyes, spaghetti for their hair, apple slice for their mouth, etc. There are also ways you can by or make a plate with a basic face and they can add food to it to create a character. Here are a few ideas:
-Create your own face plate with paint and a plate. (Many ideas on Pinterest, type in "Food Face Plates"
- "Fred" by FOOD FACE (plates with a face where children can add food to create the rest of the face like adding peas in the shape of a hat, etc). See pictures below

Developmental Milestones Apps

Learn the Signs. Act Early. Resources

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have a number of free resources for tracking and supporting motor development. Available in English and Spanish, the resources also address other areas, such as social/emotional, language/communication, and cognitive development.

Milestone Tracker App – Free and downloadable, this easy-to-use app can track a child’s milestones from two months to 5 years with illustrated checklists. The app also offers tips from CDC for encouraging a child’s development and a summary that can be shared with doctors and others.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones-app.html

 

Milestones in Action: Photo and Videos – Free photos and videos illustrate important developmental milestones from two months through five years in gross motor and other areas.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-in-action.html

We Did It!

The Social Services Appropriations Committee prioritized funding for Baby Watch Early Intervention Programs with internal funds, which means the funding recommendation has been approved!  This will help us to continue to provide services to the growing population that is eligible for early intervention.

Please take a minute and thank the members of the Social Services Appropriations Committee for their recommendation!  Here are links to the members of the committee representing Davis County.

Rep. Paul Ray (R), House Chair  
Rep. Raymond P. Ward (R), House Vice Chair
Sen. J. Stuart Adams (R)
 Sen. Todd Weiler (R) 

Also, THANK YOU to the parents who sent emails encouraging the committee to prioritize this money for services for young children.  We couldn't do this without your help and support.

Communications time bomb: Parents’ smartphone use could be the new secondhand smoke

USA TODAY published Jan 16, 2020

Theresa H. Rodgers,  Opinion contributor

We’ve all seen it, and many of us are guilty of it: A parent is preoccupied using a phone at the playground, in line at the supermarket, at a restaurant or in a doctor’s waiting room as the child sits nearby.

But anyone raising or caring for children today should know this hard truth: When parents or caregivers spend too much time turning away from their kids and toward technology, the foundation for a child’s communication skills is weakened. In a world with competing priorities and limited time, experts in my field of speech and language development are already seeing the impacts on children who have missed out on hours of essential, real-life face time — and the results are concerning. Many of my colleagues across the nation say they are seeing more children entering kindergarten with limited communication and social skills. Older children, they say, are unable to handle formal social interactions, like ordering from waitstaff at a restaurant. 

While we know that too much technology harms children's brains, parents’ digital habits play a role, too. What might seem like innocuous scrolling could be the new secondhand smoke — a personal habit that could endanger their children’s health and development in ways we don’t yet fully understand.

Different effects from smoking, but a similar danger

Unlike cigarettes, of course, parents’ phones, tablets and laptops won’t give their children asthma or ear infections or lead to sudden infant death syndrome. Nonetheless, there’s a disturbing parallel: Just as with smartphones today, we knew that secondhand smoke was dangerous for decades, yet Americans were largely complacent until the science and research overwhelmingly confirmed what was suspected. Millions of people breathed in damaging smoke in homes, offices, airplanes, restaurants, bars and cars. Even now, despite much progress promoting smoke-free places and steep declines in the share of Americans who smoke cigarettes, more than a third of 3- to 11-year-olds are exposed to secondhand smoke.

With technology, we can’t wait 10 or 20 years until the damage to a generation of children is done. A child’s communication clock starts ticking on day one, and from then forward, children need quality interactions with their parents and caregivers. A child’s communication skills blossom between the crucial ages of 0 and 3, and human interaction and conversation are the most effective ways to foster healthy development.

To learn to read emotions and engage socially, kids need to see faces and make eye contact. It’s how we’re wired and how we connect. To learn how to communicate and be prepared for academic — and eventually professional — success, they need parents who are tuned in to their signals and engage them in the back and forth of communication.

Regular, quality interactions with parents — talking, listening, singing, reading and playing together — fuel children’s language development and their acquisition of communication skills. And for children to get the brain food they need, parents need to be able to notice and respond to coos, smiles, eye contact and, later on, words, facial expressions, gestures and emotions. With hours less of these interactions each day, a child’s foundation for communication and social development is weakened, potentially impacting school readiness and creating a ripple effect throughout that child’s life.

Parents can’t respond meaningfully when they are buried in their phones and drawn to constant and unprecedented digital demands and distractions, from work emails, texts and calls to the 24-hour news cycle and the surround sound of social media.

Parental tech use, by the numbers

Parental tech use is already an issue for the majority of American families, and a recent YouGov poll commissioned by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association found that among parents with children ages 8 or younger:

►95% say their tech use interferes with daily opportunities for talking, playing and interacting with their child without distraction at least a little.

►82% are at least a little concerned that their own use of technology might impact their child’s communication health and development.

►Half would not want their child to develop their screen-time or tech habits, now or in the future. 

For years, speech and hearing experts like me have warned that Americans’ technology habits are a ticking “time bomb” that could lead to diminished communication abilities and skills across the population. We can’t wait any longer to protect children from the unintended consequences of our society’s tech obsessions.

Systemic changes, such as employers assessing the 24/7 digital demands on employees, should be in play. During well-child visits, pediatricians should ask about tech use in the home — just as they ask about smoking and other health risks — and be prepared to have tough conversations and offer tips for reducing parental tech use. And parents themselves can be more mindful of the amount of time they spend using their phones and other digital devices around their children.

A fix for kids' social media addiction:Teach them to use tech more responsibly

The smartphone habit might not be easy to kick or curtail immediately, but intentional efforts — even small ones — can begin to make a difference in a child’s development. Parents and caregivers are the only ones who can truly defuse this communications time bomb, but we all need to recognize what our children are losing when a device’s bright screen becomes more alluring than a child’s bright face.   

Theresa H. Rodgers is the 2020 president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), a national professional association for audiologists and speech-language pathologists. She is a speech-language pathologist and special education consultant in Prairieville, Louisiana. Follow her on Twitter: @theresahrodgers

When Playing with Children, Play Not Only Affects Children's Brains but Adults Too!

Play is important for children to grow up healthy, a National Institutes for Health article states.  It is a way to prepare children for the complex social world we live in.  They also state that children do not need expensive toys to obtain the benefits that come from play.  “Parents are children’s most enriching plaything.”

When infants are playing with toys and objects, their attention to the toys/objects and what is happening creates bursts of high-frequency activity in their brains.  When adults play with their children, research from the National Institutes for Health stated in the same article, is also showing that the adults experience similar bursts of high-frequency activity in their brains as well.  If you want to learn more about this and about ways to support both children and adults in playful interactions visits this website.

In English:

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/special-issues/parenting/its-kids-job 

In Spanish:

https://salud.nih.gov/articulo/es-un-trabajo-de-ninos/ 

Information from: 

Baby Talk: Resources to Support the People Who Work with Infants and Toddlers

Issue No. 93   February 2019

Reposted from 2-28-19

Baby Watch Early Intervention Program Is In the Governor's Recommended Budget

Baby Watch Early Intervention is the program in the Department of Health that funds the local early intervention programs in the state of Utah.  Governor Herbert has included a funding request made by Baby Watch in his recommended budget which will now go to the legislative committees for approval.  There are a few ways parents of children receiving early intervention services can help.

• Contact your legislators by email or by phone, thank them for supporting Baby Watch Early Intervention Program in the past and ask for their continued support.  You can share your story with them or let them know why funding is important for your child and family.  Please refer to the program as Baby Watch Early Intervention Program instead of Davis Early Intervention Program, since we are only one of 15 programs that would benefit from the funding.
• Attend one or both of the events at the capitol next week for people with disabilities.  Disability Advocacy Day is January 30, 2020 from 12:30 to 3:30 at the Utah State Capitol Rotunda and  the Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities (LCPD) Annual Legislative Reception is January 30, 2020 from 4:00 - 5:45 at the Utah State Capitol Rotunda.  Please register if you plan to attend the LCPD  reception at the utahparentcenter.org website events page or by calling 801 272-1051.   If you are able to attend the LCPD reception, let your legislator know and ask them to meet you there so you can talk with them personally.
• We may have opportunities for families to share their stories with the Social Services Appropriations Committee or the Executive Appropriations Committee in the coming weeks.  If you are interested, let me know and I will contact you if the opportunity arises.

Baby Watch Early Intervention Programs has not requested additional funding since 2017, however the number of children served has increased by more than 34% state wide.  Too many children go without early intervention services they need.  Utah’s Baby Watch Early Intervention Program serves only 2.75% of the children age 0 – 3, well below the national average of 4.97%.

You can find your legislator by entering your address on this website: https://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp

How to Decrease Screen Time (and Remain Sane)

My daughter is a mother of 3 busy little boys.  She has come up with a way to keep them busy and happy and not asking for screen time all day.  She uses a schedule board that the boys are able to work with her to fill in each morning, then they work together to follow the activities on the board.  Here are some of the activities they can choose from (with guidance from my daughter) to put together their schedule each day.

TOYS THAT TEACH

Your child already has the most important toy he or she could want or need – YOU!
Other toys, however, can be very important for helping your child to learn through play.
Here are some things to consider when considering toys for your children.

 IS THE TOY SAFE?  Is it sturdy, with no small pieces to break off?  Will it become a dangerous toy in the wrong hands?

 WILL THE TOY LAST?  We often buy disappointment for children when we give them toys that will break in a couple of days.  All around them, children see that they live in a throw-away world.  Let’s give them some things that will last and upon which they can depend.

DOES THE TOY MEET A DEVELOPMENTAL NEED?  

           PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT--  Toys can aid in the physical development of children by encouraging coordination and the use of both large and small muscles.  Toy suggestions:  balls, toys that fit together, button books; toys to push, pull or climb upon.

           MENTAL DEVELOPMENT  -- Toys can aid in the mental development of children by encouraging reasoning, problem-solving and creative thinking.  Toy suggestions:  puzzles; games; blocks.

           LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT – Toys can aid in the language development of children by helping them learn new words, and word sounds, and sentence structure.
Toy suggestions:  Books, videos, alphabet toys.

           SOCIAL (& IMAGINATION) DEVELOPMENT  - Toys can aid in the social development of children, by giving them opportunities to understand how others feel and act.  Toy suggestions:  Dress –up clothes; puppets, tea sets, dollhouses.

           CREATIVITY DEVELOPMENT– Toys can aid in helping your child learn creative expression and to become problem solvers.  Toy suggestions: Open-ended art materials, play dough, dance costumes, musical instruments, blocks.

            DISCOVERY (CURIOSITY) DEVELOPMENT – Toys can lead to discovery and foster experimentation. Toy suggestions:   Magnets, magnifying glasses, color viewers, toys for playing in water, mud or sand.

IS THE TOY APPROPRIATE FOR THE AGE OF THE CHILD?

            THE INFANT (0-1) is busy learning about himself, his body control and the use of his senses.  He responds to touch, sounds and smells.  Toys can provide an infant with the stimuli for motor and sensory development.  An infant needs safe, simple toys that he can master, toys that are easy to hold onto and toys that can be touched, felt and watched.  Toy suggestions:  mobiles, rattles, teethers, squeeze toys, musical toys, baby mirrors, water toys, washable stuffed animals and dolls.   

            THE TODDLER (1-2) has learned about herself and now feels confident in learning about the world.  She is especially interested in learning how to control other people.  The toddler recognizes the existence of others but is still self-centered.  She generally plays alone, even when surrounded by others.  The toddler is busy developing large muscle control and learning to imitate the sounds and actions of others.  She is very adventurous and needs toys that can be safely pushed, pulled, climbed on and taken in and out.  Toy suggestions:  wooden blocks, sandbox with scoops, small cars, trucks and people, large durable trucks to push, water toys, simple dress-up toys, such as hats and scarves, ball, hardcover books, simple wind-up toys, beginning puzzles, stuffed animals and dolls.

            A PRE-THREE (2-3) is concerned with self-expression and the beginnings of socialization.  Toys suggestions:  any of the toys mentioned above, plus small riding toys (not a trike), tabletop easel, creative materials, such as paper, crayons and marking pens, play dough, rhythm instruments, tapes, puzzles, simple storybooks, play phones, a small wagon.

            A PRESCHOOLER (3-5) is still experimenting with the senses, coordination, and self-expression, but now he has more social awareness of others.  Toy suggestions:  any of the previously mentioned toys, plus tricycles, large blocks, balance beams, flannel-boards, magnetic boards, pencils, paint, scissors, paste, collage materials, pounding toys, real tools, nuts and bolts, puppets and a puppet stage, dolls and dollhouses, play centers, sewing cards, puzzles, learning games, magnets, magnifying glasses, storybooks.

DOES THE TOY HELP THE CHILD LEARN TO REASON?  

In looking for toys that help children learn to reason, keep in mind that there are four different kinds of toys for this purpose.  Examine your child’s toys and see what she has at least one toy that fits into each of the four categories below.  Children need a balance of toys from which to learn different skills.

            COORDINATION TOYS – are designed to incorporate practice for a motor task that may be difficult for a child.  They enable a child to become self-sufficient in their day-to-day environment.  Examples:  sewing cards, button frames, interlocking blocks, balls, putting pegs in holes.

            CONSTRUCTION TOYS -  are designed so that the end product is deliberately left undetermined by the materials being used.  Example:  Blocks and shapes.

            RECONSTRUCTION TOYS – are self-correcting materials that can be taken apart and reassembled.  These have degrees of difficulties.  Examples:  stacking toys, puzzles.

            CLASSIFICATION TOYS – are materials that require matching, patterning, and grouping.  They include most games.  Examples:  lotto, dominoes, beads, board games, etc.

IN CONCLUSION – Children learn through play and the use of a variety of toys.  But as I stated in the beginning, nothing can replace interaction with adults, especially parents.

Information in this post came from 

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/learning-station07/toys-that-teach-dec07.shtml.
and was reposted from 5-7-19

Too Much Screen Time May Stunt Toddlers' Brains

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Nov. 5, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Toddlers who spend loads of time looking at tablets, smartphones or TVs may be changing their brains, and not for the better.

A new study using brain scans showed that the white matter in the brains of children who spent hours in front of screens wasn't developing as fast as it was in the brains of kids who didn't.

It's in the white matter of the brain where language, other literacy skills, and the process of mental control and self-regulation develop, researchers say.

"What we think happens is that the development of these skills really depends on the quality of the experience, such as interaction with people, interaction with the world and playing," explained lead researcher Dr. John Hutton. He is director of the Reading and Literacy Discovery Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

The first five years of life is the critical time when these brain connections are rapidly developing, Hutton explained. "Some types of screen media may provide suboptimal stimulation to reinforce the connection of fibers in the brain and the skills they support, such as early language and literacy skills," he said.

Although TV has been around for decades, Hutton pointed out that the recent explosion of portable screen devices has greatly increased the time kids spend looking at them.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that kids under 18 months shouldn't be exposed to screens at all. From 18 to 24 months, if parents choose, digital media should include only high-quality programming that the child and parent watch together.

For kids aged 2 to 5, screen time should be limited to 1 hour per day, and parents should watch the programs with their child. Also, parents should have times when screens are turned off, and bedrooms should be media-free.

For the study, Hutton and his colleagues did MRI scans of the brains of 47 kids, aged 3 to 5 years. The children also took tests to evaluate their cognitive ("thinking") skills.

Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire that identified their ScreenQ, which tells how much time their children spend in front of screens, and how closely they follow the AAP recommendations.

The researchers found that the higher the ScreenQ score, the lower the child's ability to rapidly name objects (a measure of mental-processing speed), and the lower their developing literacy skills.

Also, higher ScreenQ scores were tied to delayed white matter development, specifically the process that allows nerve impulses to move more quickly throughout the brain.

Hutton believes that the developing brain needs the stimulation of other people and the real world to rise to its potential.

"Young children really depend on relationships with people, interacting with the world, using all their senses," he said. "The more parents can keep their children off screens in early childhood and let them interact with people in the world, the better."

It's possible that the delayed brain development caused by screens can be made up later, but it's harder for the brain to change the older you get, Hutton added.

Reshma Naidoo, director of cognitive neuroscience at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, said that watching screens is passive and two-dimensional, both of which aren't good for developing brains.

"From my perspective, the biggest problems we are seeing is a lot less social engagement with children," she said. "We're starting to see a lot more children that have these very dysfunctional social patterns, and they're more responsive to media."

Parents need to set the example for their children, Naidoo said. "We need to shift their focus and engage with our children," she added.

Parents who let their children watch screens should use the time to interact with their child rather than making screen time passive, she advised.

"But I strongly recommend limiting the amount of time that you spend in front of those environments," Naidoo said.

The report was published online Nov. 4 in JAMA Pediatrics.