To wonder why screens aren’t investigated as a cause of childhood behaviour issues?

No, no - you are wrong. The test should be multidisciplinary and should involve testing from more than one clinician. My daughter had her assessment recently - 6 practitioners. They all had a meeting together afterwards.

Do you have an autistic child? If not, stop speaking over autistic people who understand the condition far better than you do.

The ADOS really shows up autistic behaviours that differ hugely from NT responses.

I think I was quite lucky in some senses that I was poor when DD was little. I couldn't afford screens for her - we had no tablet, my phone was a brick, didn't even have a tv. The only screen was my laptop which isn't something toddlers can really use so her screen time was limited to occasionally watching Moomins with me on my laptop. Although she uses her phone too much as a teenager now she doesn't use other screens much.
On the other hand when DS was born I was in a much better financial situation and I had to take him with me to group physiotherapy when he was a toddler so I introduced a tablet then to stop him disturbing the group, and I regret it so much! Before that he wasn't interested in screens at all, barely looked at the tv, but I trained him to like the tablet and now he's such a screen addict. And at nursery his teachers picked up on issues with him, slow processing speed amongst other things, and I do wonder if there was a connection (though thankfully at 7 now neither his teacher or the special ed teacher are reporting any issues)

I’m not saying that screen time should not be moderated or whatever. I don’t think unlimited screen time is good for any child but for children who have more difficulty understanding the world etc, screen time can be useful. There is some emerging evidence - I will need to look it up.

The other thing is that not all screen time is equal. When talking about children’s behaviour, if they are constantly on Roblox then yes it’s going to make them angry and frustrated.

My ND 5 year old enjoys watching videos that explain social norms to her, or about science, or about the human body etc. I limit the access and has to actual games.

The question should be about parents managing what their child is accessing in the way of screen time.

It’s not utter crap, she’s 100% correct.

The ADOS assesses observed behaviour, but it is not a test like a blood test which tests ‘positive’ for autism. At the end of the day it’s the opinion of the assessor doing the ADOS that counts.

That’s why so many parents get private ASD assessments when the NHS won’t diagnose. There is variability.

As our understanding of ASD develops, so do the methods used to assess and diagnose. That’s why more children are diagnosed now compared to the 90s. The boundaries are changing all the time.
The same isn’t true for chicken pox or Down Syndrome where you have a straightforward test and that’s that.

We don't have any tablets in our home and we don't allow our children to look at our phones other than for video calls, so old fashioned TV is the only screen time my son has, and it's strictly rationed.

Even then it has a noticeable impact on his behaviour to the point where we feel we need to ration it even further or cut it out altogether.

Can you stop posting utter crap?

There is a test for autism - it’s called the ADOS - look it up. It’s the gold standard of testing for autism and is scored. There also has to be an interview with parents and information gathered from other settings.

Humans are lazy OP. They don’t want to get rid of screens. They don’t want to diet and exercise. They don’t want to go cold turkey when giving up smoking. They don’t want to stop drinking. Etc etc.

Also, it isn’t just children on screens. It’s adults on screens around children.

There was a heartbreaking post on here a while ago by a poster who witnessed a 2year old on the tube trying to get her mum’s attention, who completely ignored her, engrossed in her phone. The little girl quickly just gave up.

And children get very few social interactions when out in public these days, mostly because people hide behind their screens in cafes and on transport, but also because things are increasingly self-service.

No wonder social anxiety is on the rise!

I completely agree that allowing young kids access to screens is actively causing harm.

I was at a christening of a one year old recently and before the service started, the baby was lying back in the pew, in full christening gown, glued to their Dad’s phone!

Agree with PP - people don’t want to fund or to hear this research.

Screens for children make adult lives easier . “happy mum = happy baby” how many times do we hear this on here? Drives me mad. Sometimes (in fact most of the time) what’s best for a child is inconvenient and tiresome for adults.
Obviously if the adult is on the edge of a mental breakdown where they’d be completely incapable of any care at all then it’s different, but by and large what is ‘convenient’ i.e. reduces demand for adult to provide care, is bad for the child. Children are programmed to be cared for by an adult.

Endless distraction by screens is NOT regulation. Their brains are being hijacked, and they will feel even worse when you take the screen away. Which is a sign they need LESS, not more.

Honestly, it’s like an addiction, especially for neurodivergent brains. If children’s behaviour declines when you withdraw the screen - they’re suffering from withdrawal. In the same way as an addict. You still need to keep them OFF the screens, and yes it will be painful, but it is also the right thing to do. And do it young, because the older they get the worse it becomes for them, and I do think there comes a point of no return once they are essentially totally dependent. I’ve seen it happen, all neurodivergent kids so far.

Do you have a source for this research?

I always find it interesting how research measures benefit. Sometimes it’s a self-report scale where children tick how happy they feel. Other times it’s parent report on their child’s behaviour (eg more ‘settled’ and ‘regulated’ in front of a screen).

Also, what counts as a ‘screen’. TVs are screens, and have been around for decades. Some children use mental health or mindfulness apps on their phones. Which is different to playing hours of Call of Duty. It’s an interesting area, and these definitions matter and can skew the data, you need to be really precise about what you’re looking at.

There are limited studies on long-term affects of general increase in screen use yet because three hasn’t yet been enough time to do them.

You’re absolutely right but people don’t want to hear it and get very defensive. Hence the incessant “snapshot” rebuttal every thread about seeing kids (or parents) on screens gets.

Say you manage to parent without screens babysitting young kids and you get snarky comments about “perfect parenting” or that you must be lying which suggests people do know it’s better not to use them but rather than accept there are better ways they double down with excuses.

Your kids, bring them up as you see fit, but there’s mountains of evidence of the harms so it should get harder to pretend there aren’t.

Completely disagree with this

It’s not ‘picked up on’ because reducing screen time is a huge inconvenience for parents and they don’t want the battles or the extra effort it takes to entertain their children without screens.

Asking for an assessment and blaming autism is easier.

I saw similar at DS’ football the other week. Dad was there with his young daughter who I would guess was no older than three. She was sat right next to me and spent the whole hour scrolling through TikTok. I kept glancing down (the dad didn’t notice as he was on his phone the whole time) and it looked like the algorithm was geared towards kiddie content. To me, that must mean she uses it a lot.
Sports days have been the same, toddlers being pushed up the road in their pushchairs to go and watch their siblings at sports day. Lovely sunny day, loads going on, so many of them sat in pushchairs watching tablets

Genuinely interested - do you have a citation for this?

It’s not screens it’s school. Kids are fine until they wind up in a lord of the flies scenario in the classrooms and then the adhd, anxiety and other mental health issues emerge.

I think the tough part is that there is no definitive test for ASD or ADHD - so how is a parent to know if their child is truly neurodivergent or if screen use is impacting behaviour?
Plus, screens are addictive- if you introduce one, your child will expect it and will likely have tantrums if they don’t get it, all parents know that sometimes you’ll give in because parenting is hard.
My approach was to not introduce one in the first place. Even on long car journeys, DS needs to learn to be bored sometimes and not have something taking up his attention the whole time

Totally agree with you. Noticed a Dad and son in McDonald's this weekend. As soon as they were over the threshold, "Do you want Daddy's phone?". The kid was 2.5 or 3 years old. Zero interaction with anyone for that 20 minutes. Extrapolate that up to him starting school and he's gonna have all sorts of diagnoses. It's neglect but nobody does anything because adults are as addicted to devices as their kids are. Kind of like the babies born with a heroin addiction.

Quite conclusive link to behaviour in the conclusion of the recent study I quoted above.

££££££$$$$$ repeat. That's why.

And yet the number of children struggling seems to be higher than ever

Yes, I always see Covid lockdowns blamed for poor behaviour in school especially, but surely iPads etc have been far more damaging (and no, not because lockdown caused children to spend longer online)