For toddlers, books even better than tablets



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But very few studies have been conducted on infants and parents sharing eBooks, which constitutes "a major gap in the literature," said Munzer.

"Toddlers have this growing attention span and they could be more susceptible to some improvements or distractions" contained in ebooks, Munzer explained.

For this study, researchers observed 37 parent-child couples reading together in a laboratory using three different book formats: print, basic reading and reading lights on tablets.

The three books were all from Mercer Mayer's "Little Critter" series, and their length and difficulty of reading were similar.

Basic eBooks allowed you to swipe to turn pages and select illustrations to look like words, but there was no self-narration or sound effects.

Enhanced e-books contained all the possible options: if you enter a picture of a dog, it could bark or move, or if you turn the page to a beach, you will hear the its a wave that breaks.

The researchers found that parents sharing a printed book with their child tended to talk more, as part of subtle interactions that can greatly help promote healthy child development.

For example, parents could indicate the image of an animal and ask their child what sound it emits. They were also more likely to relate the story to their child's personal experiences – "Do you remember when we went to the beach?"

These are the kinds of things that make shared reading such a rich experience for toddlers, and it does not happen that often, even with basic reading, said Tomopoulos, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study.

"Parents must develop what they read in the book and develop it according to the interests of their children," Tomopoulos said. "If you read about a character who goes to the zoo, you can say," Do not forget we went to the zoo last weekend? Which animals have we seen? "This reciprocal interaction is really what promotes early childhood development and language development."

Tablets and e-readers have become so popular and practical that it is unlikely that parents will be able to completely eliminate reading time, but Munzer and Tomopoulos have both encouraged moderation in their use.

"I would recommend that parents use the print book more than the e-book.If they use it, find a happy way to not focus on distraction and try to verbalize. more when reading the book. " "Tomopoulos said.

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