Facts
about children and television
•According
to the Australian Bureau of Statistics almost all children (97 percent)
aged 5 to 14 years watch TV or videos in their free time. Over half
(52 percent) of children who had watched TV or videos did so for 20
hours or more in the two-week period of the survey.
•During adolescence, poor readers watched more television than
good readers in their age group.
• Hearing -impaired children watch as much or more television
than their hearing peers.
•Children and adolescents who have difficulty with reading find
the world of print rather threatening. They do what most of us would
do when confronted with a threatening situation - they avoid it. Captioned
television can help them overcome this fear.
•A US survey found that 85% of the hearing- impaired children
surveyed thought there should be more captions on television and in
the classroom. |
Parents
often say to me that they don't have captions on their television because
their children can't read well enough. It is because children can't
read or are poor readers that captioned television should be a
part of their family life. From a very early age we sit down and read
to our children. Captioned television can add another dimension in our
attempts to teach our children to read. When children sit down to watch
their favourite program, they can be engaged completely in the act of
reading - voluntarily and eagerly.
How
children learn to read
We sit down and read to our children from a very early age. We often point
to the text, particularly when it is repetitive and have the child say
the word. They soon learn that different symbols on the page represent
different words. We all know how young our children are when they first
recognise the symbol for a certain hamburger chain. I think mine were
hardly talking! So from a very early age, we are teaching them that the
symbols on the page have meaning.
Mem Fox, beloved Australian
children's author and former Associate Professor of Literacy at Flinders
University has recently published a book for parents called Reading Magic.
According to Ms Fox, there are three secrets of reading. The first secret
is 'The Magic of Print' - recognising symbols on the page, the different
combinations they come in, and understanding their meaning. From the time
our children are babies, we need to read to them. The symbols on the page
become familiar to them and they will be enticed to know more about their
meaning.
The second secret of reading is 'The Magic of Language' - the more experience
that children have with language, the easier it will be for them to read.
We need to talk to them endlessly about everything. We need to sing to
them. We need them to experience rhyme and rhythm in all its forms - songs,
nursery rhymes and poetry.
The third secret of reading is 'The Magic of General Knowledge' and this
is probably the most important part that captioned television can play
in teaching our children to read. The more our children experience the
world around them, the easier it will be for them to read. As adults we
would experience difficulties understanding jargon-loaded, technical articles
about areas outside of our expertise. Yet that same article will be perfectly
understood by the people for whom it was written. The same thing happens
for children. Children who have many varied life experiences are easier
able to understand what the author of the book is trying to convey to
them. They will know from climbing a tree what the world looks like to
a giant or how the cavernous rooms of an art gallery makes them feel small.
They will be able to use the sights, the feelings and the smells of a
particular experience to help them understand what they are reading.
I can hear the cry, "But my
child has a hearing loss!" We still need to read to them. Reading will
be their most important
method of information gathering. Our children need to love books and they
need to love reading. Some of the best moments in our day is often cuddling
up with our children and reading to them. We still need to talk to them
endlessly. In fact, we need to talk to them even more as they don't hear
all that incidental language that hearing children do. We need to talk
to them so they DO hear and understand the nuances and subtleties of our
language. We need to tell them jokes and play with words and have fun
with language. And we can help them to experience life and all its wonders.
And one of the safest places for them to experience life is in front of
the television! Mem Fox acknowledges that "Children gain enormously from
good television. New worlds and different experiences are revealed to
them, providing valuable insights that expand their minds and are a great
help when they begin to learn to read. Clearly, the enriching value of
television shouldn't be dismissed."
Captioned television can provide children with all three criteria to make
reading easier for them. It exposes them constantly to the symbols that
make up words and the words that become sentences, all which have meaning.
It exposes them to language. Children love to watch the same video over
and over again and the more they do this, the more familiar the language
becomes. Just as we read the same book to them repeatedly, they should
watch the same video many times to become familiar with the language.
And most importantly, through watching television they can visit places
and have experiences that they will never otherwise have.
What parents can do
• Start watching captioned television. Your hearing -impaired child
will see it as a part of life. David Luterman, the eminent American
audiologist talks about the final stage of coping with a child's hearing
loss is acceptance. He says that "this stage is characterised by
getting deafness into life perspective. It is learning that 'beating'
deafness is not a matter of reaching normalcy, but rather of living life
more fully and authentically with the hearing impairment." For parents
who have children with a hearing loss, captioned television should
become a normal part of our lives. We shouldn't fight its necessity but
accept its place in the every day life of our family. Our children
should think that television and captions go together - like ice-cream
and chocolate sauce. Each is exciting on its own but when we put the two
together, it is 'magic'.
•For children to benefit from captions, the optimal situation is
for them to hear the soundtrack. For our hearing-impaired children,
this means that we must provide the best possible listening conditions
for them. In my opinion, the best way of doing this is to install
an audio-induction
loop in the home.
•Choose programs and videos with a high interest level for you child
and give them the opportunity to watch it a number of times. Repetition
will improve their vocabulary as new words become familiar and improve
their understanding of the content of the program as well as how our language
works. Children do seem happy to watch the same movie 50 times!
•Encourage your children to watch a wide variety of different programs
- documentaries, the news, quizzes and, of course, popular culture.
Good programs provide learning experiences and encourage discussion
which is great for improving language.
•Having related texts available to them is also valuable. Once they
know something about a subject because they have watched the captioned
video, they may be interested in reading a book along a similar theme.
The
last word
I am not advocating that captioned television replace
printed text in our children's lives or that we breed a nation of couch
potatoes. We all need balance in our lives and as parents, we need to
monitor carefully the amount and content of the television our children
are watching. What I am advocating is that when your hearing-impaired
child sits down to watch television, make it a meaningful positive experience
for them which has the potential of improving their reading skills and
broadening their knowledge and understanding of our world. Curl up on
the couch with them and enjoy that moving storybook! |
