INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOODLER’S LANGUAGE

We live in a time of rapid changes. 21st century is marked by a wide range of information and communication technologies that makes a different and more fascinating person's everyday life. People use, appreciate, and criticize the new technologies, because there are both pros and cons for anything. During this time, the young generation has replaced activities in nature with the monotonous use of smart devices. Experts discuss the impact of new technologies on children's development. Some researchers believe that technologies negatively affects children's social skills and emotional development. They believe that technologies have a negative impact on toddler’s as they are at the early stages of cognitive and social development. Instead of using smart devices, children must play with their parents so that this interaction contributes to child’s cognitive, physical and social development. Other researchers point out that children learn from the screen. Basically, children use information and communication technologies to learn, engage, participate, play or socialize.
The authors' desire to study the influence of information and communication technologies on the development of the toodler's language determined the choice of the topic of the research.

The aim of the research: to study the influence of information and communication technologies on the development of the toodler's language. The methods of the research: analysis of literature, pedagogical observation of children, questionnaire of parents, interview of experts (family doctors, pediatricians), statistical analysis of data.

The study involved 12 families with children aged 1.5 years. In six families, children do not have smart devices on a daily basis. In these families, the parents use a variety of pedagogical activities for children's education and entertainment - conversations, games, exercises, fairy tales, and more. In other six families, children are regularly given the opportunity to use smart devices on a regular basis, where they play games, watch videos, and more. Parents recorded observations and vocabulary of children at the beginning and the end of each month in the questionnaire.

The results of the research show that varied pedagogical activities and parents' direct contact with children contribute to a more rapid development of the language of the child. Those children who have a free access to smart devices on a daily basis have a slower language development. The use of information and communication technologies for toodler should be planned and guided process so that it would not harm the child's health, but would promote the child's development.