Computers may Help Develop Young Minds
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- If you want to help your preschoolers get ready for school, let them play on the computer.
According to researchers who studied 122 kids attending a rural county Head Start program during 2001-2002, young children who have access to a computer score better on standard tests measuring learning abilities.
Authors of the study, which was conducted in West Virginia, surveyed parents of the preschoolers during Head Start pre-enrolment visits to determine the value of a personal computer in early childhood development. Results showed children who had access to a computer performed better on measures of preschool readiness and cognitive development. No relationship was found between computer experience and visual motor or gross motor skills among the children.
In this study, 53 percent of the children had a computer at home, and 83 percent of those computers were loaded with children’s software. Families reported about a third of the kids used the computer on a daily basis, and an additional 44 percent used it at least weekly. Among families without a computer, about half said their children had access to a computer outside the home. Ten percent of these children used the computer daily, and another 33 percent used it weekly.
The researchers write, “The findings in the present study suggest that early computer exposure before or during the preschool years is associated with development of preschool concepts and cognition among young children.”
Computer ownership has soared over the past couple of decades. While only about 8 percent of U.S. households owned a computer in 1984, by the year 2000, about half of all homes had a computer. The number was even higher for homes with school-aged children. Two-thirds of households with a child between the ages of 6 and 17 contained at least one computer.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, 2004;113:1715-1722
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