Elizabeth Panek Christopher

SLP internet: SPAM ME with Researchers, Research, and presenters using Evidence-Based Practices that you are reading, watching, and loving right now!! #ptnspeech

I CAN NOT WAIT TO READ IT! (for the record, I was a ed tech/AT person in 2006-2010 so I road the wave). As a mom, I saw this in real time as my son went from a zero screen kid at 5 to 4-5 hours a day in school!

Discussing screen time with a colleague last night. She recommended this book, The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning -- And How To Help Them Thrive Again.

@The_x_Truth @oldandrewuk Unfortunately, there has never been evidence that children with autism needed them either. In my opinion, it became a replacement for environmental changes as well as direct skill instruction.

@oldandrewuk The fidget spinner push was to get kids to stop making fun of the ones with autism that used the fidget spinners. They marketed them as a fun thing for everybody to change the way people thought about them and it was a success.

So did all the children who supposedly could not cope without fidget spinners suddenly recover, or was something else going on all along?

@judy_humphreys @NotFor_turning @JonHaidt @khanacademy I agree. Look around at parent pick up. the Teachers are on their own phones. We had a situation where the teacher was text yelling their own child when I picked my child up. He thought he was getting yelled at. She was standing right beside him not interacting with him at all.

The more time students spend on screens, the less they learn. Ed tech does not belong in schools (until it is thoroughly tested & proven to help). Excerpt from Jared Cooney Horvath's excellent new book, The Digital Delusion, in @TheFP thefp.com/p/we-gave-stud…

@NotFor_turning @JonHaidt @khanacademy My son goes to an mid affluent school. In K we set the timer on his IPAD bc we were suspicious of the vol of IPAD use + lack of handwriting. It came back active use of 4-5 hrs. a day. In 4th, he uses it for math apps, all tests and all writing. A min of 3 hrs. a day.

@JonHaidt @khanacademy I’m yet to see an example of where kids have one to one devices all day. Literally which kids in which schools? Seems to be a twitter myth so all the edu narcissists have something to yap about and preach

@johnmarshall491 @JonHaidt @khanacademy I have seen this. I have also seen it utilized as a babysitter. My K used his ipad 4-5 hrs. The teacher used that time to create decorations and hang out online (I observed her on social media during that time). lot of behaviors in that class which prompted more ipad time.

We really need to make this a thing of the past. The benefits don’t come close to the costs. Plus it’s my experience that teachers often use it as a reward in the classroom, especially with younger students. “Finish your work and you can play (whatever game).” Just leads to kids blowing through assignments with minimum effort (if any) so they can spend a third of the claw or more playing games. Completely inefficient use of classroom time.

@JonHaidt @khanacademy I love that this conversation. I have a 4th grader who will be held in from recess if he doesn't complete his gamified math facts (2nd year on the same level bc he hit the goal in 2nd). He does it at home before school so he can play other apps for the hr. That's 1 hr wasted.

To be clear, about ed tech: --I think teachers should have a computer in the classroom and way to show images and videos, if they choose to. --I think @khanacademy has proven its worth, abundantly. I wish it could be offered on a dedicated device, with no distractions. --In my several posts about ed tech, teachers often add comments. They rarely praise or defend ed tech. --I think schools should have a computer room (as at the Waldorf schools that some tech execs seek out for the low-tech classrooms). Students need to learn to use computers and the internet. --The most damaging mistake seems to have been the 1:1 devices -- putting a Chromebook or tablet on each student's desk. As a UNESCO report said in 2023, the distraction effects seem to exceed whatever benefits a few of the apps might have: unesco.org/gem-report/en/… --I don't doubt that some apps which gamify learning have been proven to produce faster or better learning than older methods. BUT: if you gamify a third of the school day, the dopamine effects would cause the other 2/3 to seem more boring. So the net effect in a real classroom may be negative even if some apps showed consistent benefits in controlled tests. --The big question we need answered is: does giving each student their own device, to use during much of the school day, end up promoting or interfering with education over the course of a year? Horvath's graph suggests that in real classrooms, it interferes. --Putting devices on every student's desk seems to be the second giant uncontrolled experiment that the tech giants ran on our children, without our informed consent. (Smartphones and social media was the first.) They are already starting up the next one: chatbots for kids, and these will be pushed into schools too despite the already obvious harms. --We are gathering research on ed tech at AfterBabel.com. Here is a link to all of our posts about "What Schools and Educators Can Do Now." afterbabel.com/t/what-schools… See especially this one, by Mark West: afterbabel.com/p/edtech-trage… We will have more to say in future posts.

@FloridaBookGeek @Beanie0597 There is a product for this now too. Chew on your pencil in my son's school automatically gets you are very ugly chewy necklace.

@Beanie0597 I can still remember how they taste....

@MeganGierka I was blown away when as a parent I didn't get these scores automatically. When I asked 2/4 teachers didn't know the scores. 1/4 wouldn't give them to me without me going to upper administration. Keeping asking for scores. Make it a culture to provide them.

What trends do you remember and did their existence have true impact?

Been thinking of ed trends or fads a lot as I navigate parenthood. It is so much more obvious from this side. Last night at camp, my son was showing me the activity cabins. I said what is that one? He said "Oh that used to be the maker space but now is the sensory cabin"

This week's blog post: Channeling lies on the Telepathy Tapes--including lies about autism and lying. facilitatedcommunication.org/blog/channelin…

@TrostleMichelle YES! Can't agree more.

Louder for the people in the back. Reading at home to children is a great thing to do, AND it is the school's responsibility to teach reading.

@melbrethour I only agree with this if the developmental window is closed for that skill and that we have the skill paired in our curriculum correctly to match human development. Identifying children as impaired for things that are developmental appropriate yet is just as concerning.

@broysden @Beanie0597 Handwriting for example is completely lost in tech activities. If you are seeing low handwriting in your system- do we up the amount of OT referrals or do we find incidental ways like worksheets to practice previously taught skills?

@Beanie0597 This isn’t a coherent argument. The screen time studies don’t say screen time is bad because of the “screens” but because of the mindless and detrimental activities on them. If screens are being used to consume educational content and produce good work…that’s not the same.

@broysden @Beanie0597 I agree that you need to task analysis what the screens do. I argue that you need to look at the deficit skills that you are seeing in the classroom (self regulation, ok with boredom, handwriting) and look if tech takes away incidental reinforcement of those skills.

@Beanie0597 THIS!!!!! 100% this!!! we know what technology does to students but blame the students and parents when the effects happen. My fav is my son's school sends info home regularly lecturing us on screen time THEN gives the students 3-4 hrs. of screen time daily!

I created this padlet that is full of 63 free adolescent literacy resources from PaTTAN. I offered it freely, no barriers, as I do ALL of my padlets and wakelets weeks ago. You can access it in full here: padlet.com/pkastner/secon…

Are you a school based SLP or an administrator working with School Based SLPs? I recommend watching "SLP Intervention in Schools: Flexibility in Service Delivery" by Kim Murza on ASHA's Learning Pass TOGETHER as a team then using the handouts to discuss implementation at your LEA

If you support eliminating the Department of Education, you do not support our students. Period. @USEDgov provides funding for: ✅Students w/ disabilities ✅Rural students ✅Programs that make college affordable This would be bad for students, and bad for America.