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Devices for 4.5yo, PDA, ?ADHD

ukasddad

Does anyone have any advice on using devices for our 4.5yo boy with strong PDA and likely ADHD? Prior to his autism coming to the fore earlier this year and his diagnosis we obviously had no intention of introducing devices for at least another 5 years or so, and at least one of looked down on kids who are glued to devices.

However, he's only in school 1h a day currently (and not looking likely to increase that any time soon), and he's doing pretty well with an autism-friendly learning app on Mum's phone, strictly controlled. He also absolutely loves to choose music and stories on Spotify (though he continues to scroll through looking for the next song/story while listening), take and review pictures, send them to the family Whatsapp group or the other parent, and 'help' us with a daily logic puzzle we do. He can drive a QWERTY keyboard, understand copy and paste and is happy to tie it into phonics if we're around to encourage. Can't read yet, but I suspect he'll do well at this soon.

Dad is very tech savvy, but we recognise child controls and supervision is another level entirely. We'll need a second one for his sister also.

  • Is this the right thing to consider? Too early? Bad idea?
  • Choices seem to be between iPad and a Kindle Fire in terms of quality/maturity of the product and app support and child controls. Anything else to look at? Chromebook?
  • What do we need to be thinking about in terms of locking it down? How do we deal with progressive requests to unlock stuff as he grows up?
  • Thoughts on getting a stylus? Would it risk delaying his handwriting? (Currently at the almost unreadable stage, but he is writing the letters)
  • Ground rules? Can they be configured to turn off automatically at bedtime? I saw someone saying that the kid had an understanding it had to be left out daily for parental inspection.
  • Anything else to think about?

Thanks!

  • When my son was that age the only laptop access he had was supervised with games on CBeebies and only for a limited time.

    We also did a variety of creative things such as moulding dough, sticking, painting and simple cooking. 

    We aimed too to do active things like going for a walk, maybe looking for things on the way and going to the park each day.

    When he got older he spent more time on the computer, but I think limiting this was important at that stage. With ADHD I found that exercise was particularly important. 

    In respect of PDA I found to have choice of say a couple of activities helped to give him some control.

    Running up to bedtime I think it is important to have a routine including sharing a book together away from screens.

  • ukasddad said:
    Ground rules? Can they be configured to turn off automatically at bedtime?

    My approach to this would be for me (the parent) to keep the device and when he has completed his chores then he earns access to it for a set amount of time before it locks.

    This will mean he learns the importance of earning the reward, knows how long he can use it for so it is not such an issue when it locks and you can use other methods of earning time on the device through going other voluntary tasks.

    The choice of device will be a combination of its suitability to be robust, compatible with any systems you use (eg Apple device if you are an Apple device sort of family). I would get a ruggedised device that can take the rough and tumble that a 5 year old will give it.

    To help him regulate I would make it stop at least an hour before bedtime so he can has time to regulate better and relax naturally before it is time to sleep. You should take the device to prevent him becoming too attached to it and it gives you a chance to charge it too.

    Those are my opinions on it anyway. I don't have much hands on experience with the current crop of tablets but there seem to be plenty of reviews online, for example:

    https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/electronics/g28772953/best-tablets-for-kids/

    https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-kids-tablets?test_uuid=03iF1uOjHbmoZSTXr58OMhT&test_variant=B#

    These are all US centric reviews but the tech is all likely to be available in the UK in the same spec.

  • In my experience of PDA there needs to be some perceived level of control by the child. A tablet or mobile helps to regulate their emotions while distracting them from the real world so when it comes to bed times etc this can be tricky. Providing adequate warning that bedtime is approaching can often help and this can be introduced into the routine. Depending on their awareness of time of course however I believe children with PDA will struggle with transitions more than others on the spectrum, again due to a perceived lack of control over any given situation. The child here however is very young so you’ll need to assess as you go and the years pass by what works for your child and yourself as no one’s the same. As things are now most children have a tablet or a phone and this trend is pretty much considered the norm, it’s down to the parents own decision making on how much use they get out of these things. PDA isn’t easy to deal with so I wish you all luck.