Siri the babysitter may be causing speech delays in toddlers.
Toddlers who use handheld screens before they begin to talk can experience delays in expressive speech, says new research presented to the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting.
“By their 18-month check-ups,” the abstract reads, “20 percent of the children had daily average handheld device use of 28 minutes, according to their parents.”
The study observed 894 kids between 6 months and 2 years oldfrom 2011 and 2015 in Toronto, Canada and concluded that for every 30 minutes of screen time, there was a 49 percent increase in risk of speech delays.
The research supports a recent recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics to discourage any type of screen media in children younger than 18 months old.
Dr. Catherine Birken, MD, MSc, FRCPC, the study’s lead investigator, says that more research is still needed to understand what exactly causes the connection between toddler screen usage and speech delays.
