Television can help children with language

November 12, 2011 12:00AM

TOO much TV does not "dumb down" young children but can improve their language, researchers have concluded in a landmark study of the first generation of "digital natives".

The research, based on data from the federal government's longitudinal study of Australian children, questions the conventional wisdom that TV hinders children's learning.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/television-can-help-children-with-language-researchers-find/story-e6frg8y6-1226193122972

[Sam:TV is harmful to language development before 3 years of age, and beneficial afterwards.

In early years, a baby needs close interaction with people. Face to face conversation enables the child to watch the mouth movement, and to get familiarized with language patterns.

When the basic framework of language has been developed by age 3, TV helps to broaden the vocabulary base and sentence usage.]