SEATTLE — As a practicing pediatrician here for 30 years, American Academy of Pediatrics spokesman Dr. Don Shifrin has seen the adverse health effects — including obesity, attention disorders and aggressive behaviors — as children and teenagers have turned from playing outdoors and interacting with others to sitting in front of TVs, computers and video games.

But now, he says, there is an even more disturbing trend. Toy manufacturers have discovered that children as small as toddlers, some of whom haven't yet learned to speak, will gravitate to the moving colors on TV and computer screens. As a result, Shifrin said, the industry has launched new screen products aimed at very young children and their parents, often with claims of giving youngsters an educational advantage.

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Some of those products are near the top of this year's Amazon.com list of hottest-selling Christmas toys, including the LeapFrog line-up of early computers, the V-Tech series of educational videos and the Fisher-Price Smart Cycle, where children pedal on a stationery bike to progress through on-TV "learning adventures."

Shifrin and other early child specialists say there is no proof that TV and computer games will give toddlers and pre-schoolers a leg up on learning their alphabet, phonics or numbers. In fact, he said, the products could do more harm than good if parents turn over their responsibility for interacting with their children to electronic toys.

The academy has recommended no screen time at all for children under age 2 and a limit of 2 hours per day for older children. But studies suggest more children of all ages are spending increasingly more time in front of TVs, computers and video games, with many of the devices in their own bedrooms.

A 2006 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation of 1,051 parents with children ages 6 months to 6 years found that even the youngest children are using screen media an average of nearly two hours a day, and that a third of children ages 6 and under have a TV set in their bedroom.

But averages can be deceiving, Kaiser researchers say. Focus group sessions revealed that, while some parents won't allow any screen usage at all for young children, others are sitting their children in front of TVs or computers 10 to 12 hours a day, often as an "electronic babysitter" while parents go about their own business.

In a typical day, the Kaiser survey found that 14 percent of 6-to-23 month olds were spending more than two hours a day in front of screens, 22 percent were spending 1 to 2 hours and 25 percent were spending less than an hour. A minority of parents, 39 percent, were not allowing any screen time at all for infants and toddlers under age 2.

Parents are introducing kids barely old enough to grip a mouse or finger a keyboard to computers. The survey found that 52 percent of children ages 4 to 6 can use a computer without sitting on a parent's lap, 37 percent can load a CD or DVD by themselves and 10 percent have gone to Web sites on their own.

While the survey found that parents are fairly evenly split on whether TV mostly helps or mostly hurts children's learning (38 percent versus 31 percent of respondents), most parents think using computers helps (69 percent) rather than hurts learning (8 percent.)

Other parents, like 58-year-old Kathy Miltonberger of Dayton, aren't sure that screen time makes any difference either way. Miltonberger was recently shopping for LeapFrog computers for her three grandchildren, ages 2, 3 and 6.

"I'd like to tell myself that (they're educational), but I can't prove that," she said. "I do know that educational toys aren't worth much if they sit on the shelf."

But Shifrin says that's exactly where they should stay until toy manufacturers can support claims that their products enhance learning and development. "Without any long-term research — which, of course, none of these companies is willing to pay for — there is absolutely no proof to back up the idea that kids will get smarter if they watch these videos or play these games."

Toy manufacturers say their early learning products should be part of a balanced approach to a child's development and that they have consulted, and continue to consult, educators in researching the effectiveness of their toys.

"Electronic learning aids and traditional wooden blocks don't have to be mutually exclusive," said Erin Nelson, a spokeswoman for LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. in California. "It's like eating a healthy diet. There's room for all kinds of toys for children."

Kathleen Alfano, director of The Child Research Center at Fisher-Price toys, said her company is collaborating with university researchers to test the impact of interactive screen toys like the Smart Cycle. "It's a really new area. It's only in the last couple of years that smart toys have become very popular."

The Fisher-Price studies so far "are finding nothing negative," she said. "And we're finding that kids do play longer and do learn a few things. Who knows if they retain it or not until first grade. But that's okay, because they're learning it now and they're enjoying it now."

Shifrin said parents must decide for themselves what fits best into their plan for raising children.

But what is "tried and tested and true," he said, is parents interacting with their small children to teach them letters, numbers, colors and phonics as well as social skills.

"No screen can replace that," he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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