Culture & Education | Thursday 28 May, 2015 1:48 pm |

One of the UK’s top educational psychologists and the consultant psychologist at Dubai-based specialist training and capacity building consultancy, Ebdaah, says the time children under five spend watching television or playing computer games should be kept to a minimum to help them develop social skills.

Dr Madeleine Portwood, the spokesperson for the British Psychological Society on Child Development, says too much TV and computer games stop children being active and developing physical skills, reduces the time they engage in imaginative play, reinforces stereotypical and inappropriate behaviour and restricted language abilities.

“Only through books and social interactions can a child be immersed in rich and descriptive language. In short, more books, more time together and less time with the TV,” she advises.

Dr Madeleine was speaking ahead of her one-day conference - Help Children Reach Their Potential: Accelerating Child Development In The Early Years - being held in Dubai’s Knowledge Village Conference Centre on June 13.

During the conference, Dr Madeleine will outline how her proprietary Child Development Programme (CDP) can assist under-fives on the path to improved social behaviour, motor and communication skills.

UK studies have shown how, on average youngsters on the programme, which is validated as evidence-based by the UK’s Department of Education, made 13 months progress in just six months.

“Young children develop differently but if we can optimise chances and learning, then all children can benefit. A child may have potential that isn’t being realised, so it is important to provide opportunities that will enable that to develop. Why should we leave them to their own devices and say, ‘Let’s see if it’s going to come naturally?”

Dr Madeleine said children between three and four live in an almost completely visual world where experiences can have little meaning and rob them of any stored visual reminders leaving them struggling to answer questions even about recent happenings. This can lead to disruptive behaviour.

“They are unable to reason, and struggle to understand when there is too much choice or things don’t go their way. The result is a tantrum, which doesn’t mean the parents are bad, it’s simply a developmental stage!”


Parents, said Dr Madeleine, are fundamental in helping children acquire a better understanding of how others think and feel, which helps the youngsters’ negotiating skills to develop.

“It helps to provide limited choices,” she explained. “Don’t say to your child, ‘What would you like to wear?’ The chances of ending up with a tantrum if your opinion differs from theirs is very high. Instead say, ‘Do you want to wear the red or the blue trainers?’. You are still giving a choice but one that is restricted. The child has an opportunity to practise making choices where the outcome doesn’t matter.”

Another area of potential conflict, particularly if there are other children involved is: who goes first?

“The CDP helps parents train a child to understand the importance of turn-taking in a way that doesn’t lead to anger and screaming. They need to begin to become more aware of their own behaviour and to regulate their emotions and frustrations when things don’t always go their way. They can learn to accept compromise without showing anger or aggression. They can learn that it is ok to feel emotions such as angry, sad, frightened or excited, but know how to regulate their responses and develop ‘emotional intelligence’.”

Watching children at play, says Dr Madeleine, can identified their social skill level. The solitary child plays alone oblivious of other children. The parallel child plays next to another, and in a similar way the co-operative toddler will play with other children in a common scenario and take turns.

The social skills guidelines are part of Dr Madeleine’s CDP which allows pre-school teachers and parents to fast track the movement, thinking, language, communications and social skills of early years’ children.

The conference comes in the wake of UK evidence which shows that some pre-school children are lagging behind in the development stakes often because of a lack of specialised opportunity and activities. While in Dubai, Dr Madeleine will share with pre-school teachers and healthcare specialists how to measure and track children’s skills to their full potential.