TV shows linked to autism?

Back in the days when I questioned all sorts of things that may have caused Raiyan’s speech delay, one thing that I grew very suspicious of was television, in particular the DVDs that he was watching from early on as 10 months: Baby Einstein.

What first brought my attention to the possibility of television causing a delay in speech was after Jeff read an article saying that it seems to be more than a coincidence that the rise in autism rates has occurred simultaneously with the introduction of cable or satellite TV and children shows easily found in hour long DVDs or VCDs. The argument is that when children watch TV for such prolonged periods, they get used to not having the need to respond when spoken to because a TV is a two dimensional being that does not expect a response or a reaction from the children. When I heard this, it kind of rang a bell and it especially struck me that Raiyan especially liked watching the Baby Einstein range where there was hardly any talking, just scenes of colourful toys etc played with classical music in the background. (This recent article I found was not encouraging either ) I must say that Raiyan was really into his Baby Einstein DVDs, so much so that I bought 75% of the whole range (and they aren’t cheap as you have to order them from Amazon) and he would watch it even at 4 years old! But after reading the article, I was more worried because the Baby Einstein shows was not interactive at all so it is very possible that that could be a cause in his speech delay.

But at the same time, I also liked what Baby Einstein DVDs was doing for Raiyan’s “intellectual” side (at least at that time, I thought that it was the DVDs that at least stimulated it) as he was able to tell which songs are Mozart or Bach or Beethoven (whereas I for the record have absolutely no idea). He was also really good with wooden puzzles and any games that involved problem solving which again, I thought was brought on by him watching Baby Einstein. Of course since I now know that autism is genetics, and some autistic children are known to be savants, he could have been into that kind of stuff even if he wasn’t exposed to the Baby Einstein range.

SO, now that I know that Raiyan is probably the way he is more than others, because of genetics and not television or Baby Einstein, I thought that they would be safe to show Alisha. Alhamdulillah, I can safely say that at 18 months, Alisha seems to be a normal girl, talking well, communicating well, playing pretend well, good eye contact etc etc. I was then surprised to discover that she has NO INTEREST whatsoever in the Baby Einstein DVDs. I’m not sure if it's because we started her at a late age but she just watches 10 seconds of it and gets bored.

So my twist to this story is: for those people that say the Baby Einstein or Baby Brainers range etc are contributing to a speech delay in kids, try considering MAYBE, just perhaps, it’s because children that are bound to have a speech delay anyway, i.e autistic children, are more attracted to watching those TV shows as opposed to “typical” children… Has anybody thought of that?

Overall, I do believe that any child or toddler shouldn’t be overexposed to television anyway. I mean it is common sense that if you put a child in front of the TV for hours and hours, he or she is going to become passive and will eventually get used to not having the need to say anything just like what he or she does when they are watching television. I think 2-3 a hours a day should be acceptable because I also believe that a lot of TV shows out there are very educational and can immensely help a child’s vocabulary and language development.

As for Raiyan, I have naturally banned him from watching anymore Baby Einstein (can you believe he would still watch it now at 4 years old if I was to put it on for Alisha??!!) and any other shows that I find are too “babyish” for him like Blue's Clues or Dora the Explorer. I’ve actually started him on cartoon network to watch TV shows that have story lines and dialogue in them to help him with his imagination and also a better understanding of emotions and feelings. I can’t believe I’m letting him watch Spongebob Squarepants which all this time I swore I’d never let him watch such rubbish!! Hey but it helps him now!