Psychologists Call Gadgets One Of The Causes Of Children's Speech Delay If Not Restricted

Illustration-(Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Psychologist from South Sumatra Seftiana Sari reminded parents to immediately limit the use of gadgets for pre-school age children, if they want their children to be able to speak fluently quickly.

Because excessive use of gadgets will actually affect the acceleration of a child's ability to speak fluently or experience speech delays, said Seftiana Sari as quoted from Antara, Sunday, November 13.

According to Seftiana, one to one and a half hours a day is the maximum time limit recommended by psychologists for parents to give their children playing while learning to use gadget features. More than that the child will be dependent and passive.

This is because through learning from gadgets, children at pre-school age tend to only become recipients and get receptive language.

As for the reason, he said, the communication provided through the learning feature on the gadget was only conveyed in a limited way so that it would be difficult for children to digest it.

So according to the alumni of the master's degree in psychology at the University of Medan Area, North Sumatra, what is more appropriate for parents to do is to intensify direct communication with the child.

Because through direct communication both verbally and or non-verbally there will be reciprocal interactions that can hone the cognitive, affective and psychomotor abilities of children at their golden age.

He explained examples through simple conversations such as "what do baby want? Mama has candy, I'll give you candy, baby, what color candy do you want?"

So that way the child can get choices that can be held and seen in real so that it stimulates his brain to think, move and then speak.

"That method is much better than he only hears from a gadget because to improve their language and expression, they will not understand," he said.

Although it is not an easy thing to do, he believes that parents will be able to do it for the optimal development of their children.

Because based on the study of child psychologists, in the last two years there have been around 60-70 percent of parents in South Sumatra who feel convinced to give their children free time to play smart devices every day because of the benefits and convenience of the features on the gadget.

Head of the Family Health, Community and Child Health Section of the South Sumatra Provincial Health Office Lisa said that in principle the use of gadgets for pre-school children is good because it can stimulate their hearing and then speak.

"Because children's speaking ability is closely related to their hearing. That's because children will only accept what they hear and see," he said.

But indeed, said Lisa, what must be an important note for parents is that children should not use gadgets for too long and there must be a companion.

According to him, the child's growth and development period begins to try to speak since he can consume food other than milk or at the age of six months and over then his speech ability will be clearer at the age of 1.5 years.

So during this period the child must continue to have friends who invite him to communicate so that they can be trained to speak because in addition to listening, he must also practice something.

"This means that the role of parents is very important in starting a child's growth and development," he said.