While adults know how tablets and smartphones can strain the eyes, many parents aren’t warned how these harm their children’s speech development. Researchers recently presented their study at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco, covering how the increased time spent on handheld devices slows speech development in children.

Many parents rely on handheld device to keep children occupied, but the consequences of letting children spend an excessive amount of time in front a screen are unknown. This study, set to be presented by lead author Julia Ma, a student at the University of Toronto, hopes to provide evidence in supporting policy recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to warn against the use of screen media in children un 18 months of age.

"Handheld devices are everywhere these days," said Catherine Birken, MD, MSc, the study's principal investigator and a staff pediatrician and scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children. "While new pediatric guidelines suggest limiting screen time for babies and toddlers, we believe that the use of smartphones and tablets with young children has become quite common. This is the first study to report an association between handheld screen time and increased risk of expressive language delay."

The study included 894 children between 6 months and 2 years old who participated in the TARGet Kids! program, a research network with scheduled health supervision visits, between 2011 and 2015. Parents were given a questionnaire on speech delay and communication concerns, as well as a checklist to report on children’s time spent with handheld screens.

Results showed a correlation between increased time spent with a screen and delays in expressive speech. At the time of the children’s 18-month checkup, 20 percent of children spent an average of 28 minutes a day on a handheld device. But for each 30-minute increase, there was a 49 percent increase in risk of expressive speech delay.