Rachael Bedford|Irati R. Saez de Urabain|Celeste Cheung|Annette Karmiloff?Smith|Tim J. Smith
Toddlers’ Fine Motor Milestone Achievement Is Associated with Early Touchscreen Scrolling
King's College London|Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck, University of London
touchscreen technologies provide intuitive attractive source sensorycognitive stimulation young children despite fears usage may negative impact toddlers cognitive development empirical evidence lacking current study presents results uk toddler attentional behaviours learning touchscreens tablet project examining association toddlers touchscreen use attainment developmental milestones data gathered online survey 715 parents 6 36montholds address two research questions 1 touchscreen use change 6 36 months 2 toddlers 19 36 months ie median age n 366 retrospectively reported age first touchscreen usage relate gross motor ie walking fine motor ie stacking blocks language ie producing twoword utterances milestones sample proportion children using touchscreens well average daily usage time increased age youngest quartile 611 months 5122 users 853 minutes per day oldest quartile 2636 months 9205 users average use 4395 minutes per day toddlers aged 1936 months age first touchscreen use significantly associated fine motor stacking blocks p 003 controlling covariates age sex mothers education proxy ses well age early fine motor milestone achievement pincer grip effect present active scrolling touchscreen p 004 video watching significant relationships found touchscreen use either gross motor language milestones touchscreen use increases rapidly first three years life current study find evidence support negative association age first touchscreen usage developmental milestones indeed earlier touchscreen use specifically scrolling screen associated earlier fine motor achievement future longitudinal studies required elucidate temporal order mechanisms association examine impact touchscreen use finegrained measures behavioural cognitive neural development