The Mental Health Department has issued
recommendations to the Education Ministry on using computer tablets to combat learning disabilities and boost IQs and social skills while also preventing children from becoming addicted to the gadgets.
About 30 per cent of Prathom 1 students are underdeveloped, with 10 per cent of them suffering from learning disabilities and 20 per cent from developmental disorders, Mental Health Department chief Dr Narong Sahamethapat said yesterday.
Saying that the government’s scheme to provide tablets to Prathom 1 pupils would be helpful in overcoming learning disabilities, Narong said his office has asked the Education Ministry to add two applications that would boost students’ development.
But he also cautioned that parents and teachers should work to keep children from becoming too attached to the tablets.
Citing the Health Department’s survey on pre-school child development and the Mental Health Department’s study on students’ IQ, Narong said 30 per cent of Prathom 1 students, ages six to seven, were under-developed. He cited the 2011 survey that put the average IQ of Thai children at 98.59. Overall, 48.5 per cent of Thai children have an IQ score that’s lower than 100 while 6.5 per cent have IQ scores under 70, which is higher than the international standard of 2 per cent.
One of the Mental Health Department’s two suggested tablet apps would be based on a parents’ handbook for child development from birth to five years old, focusing on physical hygiene and overall development. The other app would be a life skills development cartoon for students in Prathom 1 to 3, focusing on emotional development, including social skills, analytical thinking, problem-solving and emotional management.
Most important, Narong said, was that Prathom 1 children learn by interacting with real people.
He suggested that teachers get up to date with the technology, provide learning-motivated environments and arrange activities that enable the students to express themselves and think creatively.
He also urged parents to teach their children to participate in physical activities and set an example in the wise use of technology in an effort to keep kids from getting addicted to the tablets and other electronic devices.
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