Using video and Flash Animations for teaching children
 
Our brain is like a complex piece of machinery and takes time to develop but in the case of small children the initial development is very fast. During this time the child tends to grasp things at a faster pace. Though this is good it is of no use as the child fails to understand the different concepts and aspects.

Thus to help children understand these concepts and enable them to apply it to their day to day lives a new technique known as video modelling is being implemented. Video modelling is an instructional technique in which the teacher or therapist targets a specific skill or behaviour, which the beginner has to imitate. This technique helps the young children acquire new skill within a short period of time by repeated viewing of these tapes.

The mind of the child is greatly obsessed by the things around, take for instance at the age of three the child begins to say the names of the things or the people around him, this skill develops as he is constantly being exposed to the same surrounding and people all the time. This is similarly what happens when a video is used to teach a child, thus when videos are used the repeated viewing of the same scene stimulates the mind of the child to imitate what is being done by another individual.

Learning can be made fun by using such aids. By using video streaming software that displays an apple for A, a ball for B, a cat for C, till a zebra for Z the letters of the alphabet can be thought with ease. Basic science like learning the name of birds, animals, fruits, leaves etc. can be taught using the same technique.

Videos are specially used for teaching children who are suffering from learning disorders like autism spectrum disorders. As such children are interested and attentive to videos, using videos to teach such children is very effective.

Videos can be used to train children to adapt themselves to real life situations like birthday parties, funerals; wedding etc. the repeated viewing of these videos stimulates the mind of the child to perform the tasks according to the situation as shown in the video. The viewing of these video clips gives the child the opportunity to observe, imitate, and learn the skills and behaviours of their typically developing peers. They can imitate these skills from appropriate models and this helps them gain a better understanding on many subjects.

These taped segments can be made by the parent, therapist, teacher or professionally made ones can be obtained from the market. These tapes can be made to cater to the various areas in which the children face difficulties. Thus by using these tapes you can be sure that your child will pick up certain important skills and concepts in a short period of time. By using these tapes we can live up to the saying and I quote,”…. All my thoughts are like videotapes running in my imagination, pictures are my first language and words are my second.”