Can too much screen time for children cause speech issues? A new study says yes

Too much screen time A new study indicates too much screen time can lead to speech delays. Jairus Patterson reports.

May is Speech and Hearing Awareness Month.

A recent Canadian study found the more time babies and toddlers spend in front of a tablet or smartphone, the more likely they are to have a speech delay.

Many parents will admit it's sometimes inviting to put on a movie or video game or give a child the iPad to keep them occupied, but researchers in Toronto said parents with children under the age of 18 months should limit to the amount of screen time their babies are exposed to.

Six months ago, a young Sault Ste. Marie girl named Poppi was brought to the Algoma Public Health pre-school speech services.

Since then her vocabulary has grown immensely.

“She has a lot of words to talk about, like items she knows, she has most of her animal names and the sounds they make. She can talk about different foods and toys,” explained Sarah Lambert, Poppi's mother.

It was discovered Poppi needs tubes in her ears, which will help her speech.

Miranda Abelson is a speech language pathologist, and she told CTV Poppi is one of hundreds she's had referred to her care.

Her first piece of advice for parents; limit the amount of screen time you allow your children.

“What we know about speech and language development is that children actually learn language from back-and-forth interaction with people, important people in their life,” said Abelson.

“They don't know how to use language unless they actually see somebody doing it, so a television is showing them, saying things at them, but there is no response coming back.”

A recent report by a team at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto recommends that babies and toddlers under the age of 18 months should not be exposed to screen time.

Abelson said there is one exception to the rule.

“Doing video, facetime because it mimics real life interaction because you’re talking back and forth with people.”

The study hasn't been published or peer reviewed, but the basic suggestion about keeping children under two-years-old away from screen time is being echoed by local speech pathologists.