# 071 03/05/01 Children need spoken or printed word

I am concerned about the number of children in schools who have difficulty staying focused on schoolwork. Since I began teaching in the early sixties, the number of children labeled ADHD has risen an alarming percentage.

We have all heard that watching too much television will turn our brains to jelly. I would like to explain what really does happen when we watch visual images.

When a child is told or read a story or actually reads the printed words for himself, his brain must construct the visual picture of what he has heard or read. If I say to a fourth grade classroom, “The boy was running down the snowy hillside with his dog, trying to stay ahead of the large avalanche of snow and ice,” each child forms a visual picture in his head. Each child’s picture will be different. The dog may be a poodle or a husky. The boy may have on a cap or not. The avalanche may have rocks in it or be snow only. Whatever is visualized, each child’s brain has had to work to construct the picture.

If I show that same class a video clip of the boy running down the hill, the child’s brain does not have to work to construct the picture. When a child is reared from an early age with a steady diet of videos and video games, his brain is not being trained to make visual pictures from words. It becomes very difficult for him to focus on the printed or spoken word – the input of choice in most classrooms. When he is asked to do so, he will feel uncomfortable and bored. He will choose to squirm in his seat, talk to his neighbor or look around the classroom. Parents will soon be hearing from the teacher that their child “will not stay on task.”

It is very important that children receive the majority of their learning from spoken and printed words. Do not be disheartened if your child has been watching videos more than reading. Begin to restrict the videos and increase reading, storytelling and game playing. Children who read and listen for most of their preschool learning will have had the “brain training” needed to be good students.