‘One in 58 kids have delayed development’

Dr V Jayanthini, a retired professor of child psychiatry, said that currently, almost one in 58 children have delayed development and over 90 per cent of the cases she sees on a daily basis are related to developmental delay among children.

“The affliction seems to be increasing of late,” said Jayanthini. “Earlier, pregnant women used to speak to the infants in their bellies which was good as a foetus starts listening after 18th week of pregnancy. Nowadays, however, mothers also spend all their time on gadgets,” the retired professor added.

Also, according to her, spending time with gadgets not only delay children’s communication skills, but they also affect their social and emotional development. “Growing children, if exposed to only gadgets, lose out on human interaction and interaction with the environment. As a result, emotional, cognitive, moral and physical development in the child get delayed,” said Jayanthini.

“All they will know is how to touch a screen and make it play music or videos. The babies will neither be able to read the expression of others around them nor will they be able to express what they want,” she added.