Parents, teachrs and pediatricians who promote reading may wish to know that Hillary Clinton says "no" to using electronic devices.

Clinton made this announcement at the American Academy of Pediatricts Conference in San Diego last week, said an article on UTSanDiego.com. Clinton said that using electronic devices cannot replace face-to-face interaction between the parent and the child. Clinton continued her statement by announcing her distribution of an early literacy tool kit to the 62,000 members in order to "help promote the verbal development of young children."

Clinton's effort, the article said, "capitalizes on the trusted role of pediatricians in encouraging parents to read out loud, chat freely and even sing more with their young children from day one." 

“As we have learned in the last 15 years, scientists can literally watch the synapses and the neurons firing when parents are reading and talking with children from their very earliest days,” said Clinton.

In June, The Academy of Pediatrics launched a national debate about the use of electronic devices by young children and recommended a "no TV or electronic screen time for children under the age of 2, and less than two hours for older children."

“Now technology is of course changing how Americans read and in many ways it is opening up exciting new avenues for learning,” Clinton said. “We don’t have enough research, but I think what we are learning is that the earliest years before a child is 2, televisions, iPads and screens are no substitute for actual parent-child interactions like talking, reading and singing.”

The academy, according to the article, "has joined forces on literacy development with the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation and Next Generation, the California-based policy group on Climate change and childhood issues." Their initiative is called 'Too Small to Fail,' which "responds to a growing body of research highlighting language sensitivity starting in infancy."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor