Ethan loves his iPad, it wasn’t an item that was brought for him but it has turned out to be his favourite thing. As much as I hate it Ethan can be on the iPad all day if we let him. It’s not something I’m proud off but it keeps Ethan busy and safe. Without the iPad Ethan will climb, and for someone who has no sense of danger that isn’t a good mix.
We have only ever downloaded educational apps and I believe this is how Ethan knows all of his numbers and letters. Unfortunately Ethan has discovered YouTube. I have switched off the app and moved it many times, but to avoid massive meltdowns he can watch it when we are keeping an eye on it’s content. I haven’t worked out yet if we can control what videos he watches.
I have never shown Ethan how to work the iPad everything is self taught. He has also taught himself how to navigate around YouTube, no matter what video he starts on he can always make his way to his favourites.
At the moment Ethan watches the S Club 7 Children in Need performance, BBC 2 and Nickelodeon trailers and videos of Kinder Eggs. Yes people actually upload videos of opening Kinder Eggs!
Ethan has also discovered channels that upload nursery rhymes that he likes to watch, sometimes we even listen to the French versions. I’m sure Ethan talks a foreign language and I just don’t know it yet!
There have been times that I had thought Ethan was singing along to the nursery rhymes. When I was sure he was I tried to film it but he always caught me. Last week when we were having a sofa day because of illness, I was able to capture Ethan’s singing.
Learning From YouTube – The Wonders Of The iPad!
On our sofa day I also noticed that Ethan had started to copy some of the actions to the video.
This is amazing because Ethan has never really known how to use his hands. It’s hard to explain as he does use his hands but he prefers to use ours, for Example Ethan held his beaker for the first time at 18 months old. Before that time we would hold his bottles/beakers for him, he didn’t know how to hold them himself. He also points using his middle finger, it’s as if he doesn’t know that his index finger exists.
Seeing him copying this video is amazing, I can see from his face he is trying to work it all out. His hand matches the one on the video!
That is a lovely post – I hear you about hands and I love the videos. His singing is so cute. I might start Gabe on the Ipad xx
Hello there, this is great and I am glad to hear he is enjoying it and doing so well. Our little man is loving the CBeebies app and he is finding it lots of fun, particularly the painting section! x #ssamazingachievements
It’s great how he is copying the actions as well as singing, I think that screen time is sometimes seen as being too much of a bad thing, I think that toddlers can learn a huge amount from the right programmes x
That is really good to hear that it is helping Ethan come along so well. I am loving YouTube currently and am uploading videos of my Sensory Seeker to help better understanding of his condition and to track his progress.