Parent Workshops!Each year I try to establish something new into the Amalgamated program. This year I would like to work with the parent board on bringing some guest speakers or workshops to family meetings. I would like some input into what families would find informative and interesting to them. Please let me know what would interest you. Drop me a note or an email (amalgamatedns@yahoo.com) and we will try to arrange some workshops

One topic I personally would like to pursue is the effect of technology on our children. It has been a topic that has come up in conversations I have had with staff, friends and families over the past few months. In particular, I and those I conversed with have noticed that technology such as cell phones, IPods, computers, email and texting via cell phone, DVD players in cars and other such devices has cut down a great deal on time that children may have spent conversing with their families. I often notice parents using cell phones or listening to IPods for long periods of time while walking their children in strollers, while attending to their children in the park, while traveling on public transportation, while driving in the car and when dropping off or picking up their children at school. Children are set up with portable DVD players in the car and younger and younger children are using IPods.

In my mind what is happening is there is less conversation between parent and child. I’m not saying children aren’t being cared for and they may be learning from educational television, DVD’s or computer games. Many may argue that technology allows for children to be surrounded by language to an even greater extent than before. However they are not engaged in conversation with technology – conversations allows for a give and take pattern and an opportunity to speak and respond verbally on a topic. Research has shown that conversation is crucial to language development. In fact one study shows that conversation is six times as potent at fostering good language development as adult speech input alone. Give this information some thought and think about how much time you spend conversing with your child.

Later in this newsletter you will find an article that addresses this topic.