Teaching Tools for Children: Books > Traditional Toys > Electronic Toys

choi

Pam Belluck, Traditional Toys May Beat Gadgets in Language Development. New York Times, Dec 24, 2015.
well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/traditional-toys-may-beat-gadgets-in-language-development/

Quote:

(a) "in the midst of the holiday season, a new study raises questions about whether such electronic playthings make it less likely that babies will engage in the verbal give-and-take with their parents that is so crucial to cognitive development.

"The study, published Wednesday in JAMA Pediatrics, found that when babies and parents played with electronic toys that were specifically advertised as language-promoters, parents spoke less and responded less to baby babbling than when they played with traditional toys like blocks or read board books. Babies also vocalized less when playing with electronic toys.

(b) "The study builds on a growing body of research suggesting that electronic toys and e-books can make parents less likely to have the most meaningful kinds of verbal exchanges with their children.

" 'When you put the gadgets and gizmos in, the parents stop talking,' said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University who was not involved in the new study, but who has found similar effects with e-books and electronic shape-sorters. 'What you get is more behavioral regulation stuff, like "don’t touch that" or "do this," or nothing because the books and toys take it over for you.' "

My comment:
(a) This is no longer a blog, which is published in print today.
(b) There is no need to read the rest of this report. The quotation is the essence of the study.

(c) Anna V Sosa, Association of the Type of Toy Used During Play With the Quantity and Quality of Parent-Infant Communication. _: _ (online publication Dec 23, 2015).
archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2478386
(i) First, in the Abstract. The Result section of Abstract states in part, "During play with electronic toys, there were fewer adult words (mean, 39.62; 95% CI, 33.36-45.65) * * * than during play with traditional toys or books.

If you read Result, you will know that the term "mean, 39.62; 95% CI, 33.36-45.65) signifies that compared with "traditional toys or books," paying with electronic toys results in 39.62 fewer adult words PER MINUTE -- see (c)(iii)(B) ("Average per-minute counts") -- with the confidence interval -- here "plus or minus twice the standard error" or standard deviation -- 33.36-45.65 fewer words per minute.
(ii) Methods
(A) "Participants[:] * * * infants (aged 10-16 months) were eligible. Parent-infant dyads were excluded if the participating parent did not use English as the primary language with the child.
(B) "Data Collection[:] To maximize the ecological validity of study findings, participants engaged in study procedures in their own homes without being directly observed by researchers. On enrollment in the study, audio recording equipment, 3 sets of toys, and study paperwork were delivered to participants. The recording equipment * * * records up to 16 hours of recorded sound and is worn continuously by the child for at least 10 hours. * * * Each dyad engaged in 2 15-minute play sessions per toy set over a 3-day period, resulting in 30 minutes of play per day.
(C) "Toy Sets[:] * * * The electronic toys * * * The traditional toy set * * * The books toy set consisted of 5 board books * * * Three of the books included lift-the-flap opportunities.
(iii) Results
(A) "26 parent-infant dyads [participated] * * * Twenty-five parent participants were biological mothers and 1 parent participant was the biological father. Two children were born prematurely and were identified with moderate developmental delay; parents of the other children reported no developmental concerns. The sex of the child, age of the child, race/ethnicity of the child, and maternal education are presented in Table 1.
(B) "Average per-minute counts with 95% CIs  for each outcome variable by condition are displayed in the Figure"

(d) I will explain (c).
(i)
(A) dyad (n; from Greek): "PAIR; specifically : two individuals (as husband and wife) maintaining a sociologically significant relationship"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dyad
(B) board book
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_book
(C) The (c)(ii)(C) mentions "lift-the-flap."  Go to images.google.com and you will know.
(ii) The sample size of 26 is a bit too small. But the study does apply statistics.  
(iii) You have to read The Toy Sets -- in (c)(ii)(C) -- to know exactly what toys were used in the study.
(iv) Each dyad served both the control and the experiment.
(v) The NYT report oversimplified the result of the study. If you view the Figure, you will see
(A) that legend of the Figure accounted for the acronyms.
(B) that "for each outcome variable by condition" -- see (c)(iii)(B) -- there are three, not two, "data collection" points -- (c)(ii)(B). Board books are better than traditional toys, which are in turn better than electronic toys.
(C) and that in AW (standing for "adult words"), you must multiply the difference "by 10" --see the y axis -- in order to reach "mean, 39.62."

choi

Quoctrung Bui and Claire Cain Miller, Short Ride to Mom’s House Reveals a Changing America. New York Times, Dec 24, 2015 (front page).
http://www.nytimes.com/interacti ... ot/24up-family.html

Quote:

"The typical adult lives only 18 miles from his or her mother, according to an Upshot analysis of data from a comprehensive survey of older Americans. Over the last few decades, Americans have become less mobile, and most adults – especially those with less education or lower incomes — do not venture far from their hometowns.  The data reveal a country of close-knit families, with members of multiple generations leaning on one another for financial and practical support.

"The United States offers less government help for caregiving than many other rich countries. Instead, extended families are providing it, whether they never moved apart, or moved back closer when the need arose.

"only 20 percent [see the bar chart, which is not found in print] live more than a couple hours’ drive from their parents. (Researchers often study the distance from mothers because they are more likely to be caregivers and to live longer than men.)

"The biggest determinants of how far people venture from home are education and income. Those with college and professional degrees are much more likely to live farther from their parents than those with a high school education, in part because they have more job opportunities in big cities, and especially if spouses are juggling the career aspirations of two professionals.  Wealthier people can afford to pay for services like child and elder care, while low-income families are more likely to rely on nearby relatives.

"Married people live farther from their parents than singles, and women ['who have typically been the nation’s unpaid caregivers'] are slightly likelier than men to leave their hometowns. Blacks are more likely to live near their parents than whites, while Latinos are no more likely [than whites] to live near their parents, according to data from Janice Compton, an economist at the University of Manitoba, and Mr [Robert A] Pollak[, an economist at Washington University’s Olin Business School in St Louis].

"Economists * * * see family caregiving dynamics during adulthood as a series of trade-offs and payments — of either time or money. Grandparents help care for grandchildren; their own children will help care for them later. * * * Grown children are the single greatest source of care for the elderly in the United States, according to AARP. * * * Americans are much more likely to say that elder care is a family’s personal responsibility, not a governmental one.

"a Pew Research Center survey * * * found that with the exception of college or military service, 37 percent of Americans had never lived outside their hometown, and 57 percent had never left their state.

Note:
(a) quotation 1: The "Upshot" means a unit of NYT, as well as its publication at page A3 of the newspaper.
(b) quotation 3:

couple (n): "an indefinite small number : FEW <a couple of days ago>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/couple

(c)
(i) The Polish, Czech, and Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname Polak (with variants such as Pollack, Pollak): "someone from Poland. * * * The name of the country (Polish[:] Polska) derives from a Slavic element pole ‘open country,'  ‘cleared land.' This surname is found throughout central and eastern Europe."
(ii) The Polish surname Polanski (as in the director Roman Polanski) also means "someone from Poland."

Both items are from Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford University Press.

(d) "This year, after she [Kathy Kenyon, 63, a health care lawyer at Washington DC] and her husband retired, they moved with her parents to their vacation home in Red Lodge, Mont., where they live together and also employ professional caregivers.

Red Lodge, Montana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lodge,_Montana
(a city of 2,125 at [sic] the 2010 census; 1851, the United States government signed a treaty with the Crow Nation, ceding the area which now contains Red Lodge to the Crow Indians)
(e) " it is a testament to the American family that the safety net for many of them are relatives. But as baby boomers age, and as more women work and couples have fewer children, that net figures to become increasingly strained."

figure (v): "to appear likely <figures to win>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/figure