DIGITAL TOOLS AND LANGUAGE IN CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN 8 TO 36 MONTHS

AIM: In the last ten years, digital tools have become common in children. Language skills are important and emerge in childhood. The purpose of the present study is to find a potential relation between digital tools use and language skills in children aged 8 to 36 months, considering other factors. METHODS: This is an observational cross-sectional study that included a total of 260 subjects between 8 and 36 months. Parents of all children completed a questionnaire that explores usage of digital tools by children, and another one for language skills (MacArthur-Bates). RESULTS: We found a significant negative relationship between the daily time of use of digital devices and the gestures and actions Quotient (B = -0.397) in subjects aged 8 to 17 months, and between the daily time of use and the quotient of the lexicon (B = -0.224) in subjects aged 18 to 36 months. CONCLUSION: We have shown that a major use of digital devices was linked to lower abilities of actions and mimics in subjects 8-17 months of age and to worse language performances in subjects aged 18 to 36 months. The other explored factors were not linked to these results.