For Parents — Disconnect to Reconnect
Impact of technology on child development, behavior, and learning.
Learn how to manage balance between technology and activities children need for growth and success.
The Problem
Does your child gaze at you with dull, vacant eyes…like they have “checked out”? Do you ever wonder what it would take to get your teen to look you in the eye, engage and maybe laugh with you without being distracted and focused on their screen?
With technology so embedded in our daily life, family quality time competes with social media and video games. Talking to kids about screen time reduction is bound to met with resistance, so why not instead talk about managing screens by increasing engagement in healthy activities?
The Technology Management webinar for parents gives parents practical tools for working together with their kids to effectively balance screen time with healthy activities including movement, touch, human connection and nature. Are you ready to reconnect?
We also answer the question, “When should I give my child a cell phone?”
"Cris Rowan has an uncanny ability to relate to young parents and know exactly what they need to motivate them to create the best foundations for their families."
Disconnect to Reconnect
Disconnect to Reconnect for Parents comes in 2 versions:
complete version consists of 12 modules averaging ~ 3 hours each,
and the condensed version which is 3.5 hours.
Condensed Version
Full Version
Reconnect Webinars is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development approval #6106.
Complete the 3-day course and receive certification in
Balanced Technology Management.
Come join the Reconnect Webinars
Balanced Technology Management team!
Click here for more information.
Disconnect to Reconnect — Condensed Version
Reconnect Webinar – Disconnect to Reconnect condensed version is designed to be advanced level for parents, intermediate level for teachers, EA’s, administrators and special education staff, and introductory level for clinicians including therapists (OT, PT, SLP), psychologists, nurses, physicians.
You will be asked to create a profile to access free webinars (done via the checkout process). This allows the website to grant your access and track your progress through modules in the webinar. Reconnect Webinars is committed to your privacy and will not share your data.
Disconnect to Reconnect — Full Version
You will be asked to create a profile to access free webinars (done via the checkout process). This allows the website to grant your access and track your progress through modules in the webinar. Reconnect Webinars is committed to your privacy and will not share your data.
What's Included?
Module 1 — Introduction, Statistics and Expert Guidelines
The ways in which we are raising and educating children with screens are no longer sustainable
- Child harms/child rights
- Tech trends: past -> present
- Pre/post covid screen usage stats
- Pediatrician expert guidelines
- Tech Management webinar review
2 hrs. – FREE
Module 2 — 4 Critical Factors for Child Development
Create sustainable futures – give kids the edge they need to grow and succeed
- Move: fit, coordinated, literate
- Touch: relaxed, secure
- Human Connection: social, regulated
- Nature: calm, focused
Guest speakers include Phyllis Dyson – teacher, author, trauma specialist and Dr. Kerry Crofton – psychologist, author, nature advocate.
2.5 hours for $100
Module 3 — Physical Development Research
All screen use is detrimental to healthy child development, behavior and learning
- Brain/body development
- Screen impact research areas:
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Obesity/diabetes
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Developmental delay
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Hyperarousal
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Myopia
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Sleep deprivation
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Melatonin, vitamin D
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Eating disorders
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2 hrs for $100
Module 4 — Wireless Radiation Research
Not proven safe, early studies show harm
- Experimental, epidemiological and cancer studies
- Global initiatives; precautionary principle
- Reduction methods
Guest speakers include Theodora Scarato, Executive Director of Environmental Health Trust and Katie Singer, environmental journalist and author.
2.5 hrs. for $100
Module 5 — Social Development Research
Humans don’t do well when separated from their pack.
- Social media isn’t social
- Violent video games
- Early pornography
- Polarity, hate, radicalization
Guest speakers include Jean Rogers, educator and Director of the Children’s Screen time Action Network; Dr. Douglas Gentile, psychologist, professor, researcher, author and Mary Sharpe, lawyer and CEO of The Reward Foundation – Love, Sex and the Internet.
4 hrs for $100
Module 6 — Emotional Development Research
=Tech crack – sad, mad and finally bad
- Problem behaviours
- Identity, motivation, independence
- Challenge and risk
- Self-regulation
- Aggression, violence, cyberbullying
3.5 hrs. for $100
Module 7 — Mental Development Research
What we do/watch is who we become
- Parent-child attachment, mental health
- Adverse Childhood Experiences research
- Screen media and mental illness
- Unplug – don’t drug; misdiagnosis/medication
- Adhd, autism, internet addiction
- Data privacy, security, persuasive design
Guest speaker includes Dr. Hilarie Cash, psychologist, author, Chief Clinical Director of reSTART Internet Addiction Centre.
3.5 hrs. for $100
Module 8 — Cognitive Development Research
Were using a lot of something we know little about
- Educational trends, creativity crisis, Covid impact
- Screen impact research areas:
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declining literacy
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cognitive impairment
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multitasking stress
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attention deficit
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poor productivity
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- Considerations for screens in school
- Tech illusion — We’re using an awful lot of something we know very little about
Guest speaker includes Joe Clements, teacher, coach, advocate, author.
2 hrs for $100
Module 9 — Balanced Technology Management for Parents
Disconnect to reconnect; give…don’t take away
- Democratic, not autocratic
- Problem severity and intervention trajectory
- Family meeting; reasons for overuse
- Media content, duration, safety, rules
- Establish screen management policy for home setting
Guest speaker includes Melanie Hempe, RN, author, founder of ScreenStrong.
3 hrs for $100
Module 12 — Tech Tool Kit Review; Conclusion
Application of 42 BTM tools and techniques
- 8 signature graphics
- 9 screen usage assessments
- 9 BTM techniques
- 9 BTM tools for parents
- 7 BTM tools for educators and clinicians
- Conclusion and final thoughts
1.5 hrs for FREE
Children use on average 7.5 hours per day of entertainment technologies, four times the amount recommended by pediatricians. TV, video games, internet, movies, cell phones and a variety of hand-held devices now occupy the majority of our child’s waking hours – but to what detriment? While technology offers obvious promise for children, perils associated with early use and overuse of screens are often ignored. Developmental delay, obesity, sleep deprivation, mental illness, aggression, defiance, social phobia, poor communication, attention deficit and learning disorders are all associated with technology overuse.
The effect of chronic states of high adrenalin in a sedentary body, as well as the effect of prolonged use of wireless radiation, are only beginning to receive research attention, but could prove to have permanent life-threatening consequences to child health. Schools are creating Virtual Classrooms, and homes are creating Virtual Families, further alienating children from essential human connection and attachment that is the basis for child development, behavior and learning. Children are our future, yet choices made today raise the question: are the ways in which we are raising and educating our children with technology, no longer sustainable?
Learning Outcomes
- Relate current technology research to physical, mental, social and academic performance
- Explore the effects of fast paced and violence media on attention deficit and aggression
- Apply knowledge regarding critical factors for healthy child sensory, motor and attachment development
- Apply balanced technology management initiatives
Handouts
- Technology Tool Kit (Includes 75 handouts for parents, teachers and clinicians)
Teachers
The Learning Paradox
Prioritizing foundations for child growth and success over screen use.
Clinicians
Screening for Screens
Teens
Finding the balance between virtual and real
Become a certified Screenbuster!
Find the balance between virtual and real.
Check out our free Technology Management webinar for teens
Become a certified Screenbuster!
Finding the balance between virtual and real.
Cris Rowan, BScOT, BScBi, SIPT
An outspoken critic on the impact of technology on human development, behavior, and productivity
Webinar creator Cris Rowan, is passionate about changing the ways in which humans use and interact with technology. Cris has developed a concept termed Balanced Technology Management (BTM) where humans strive to manage balance between healthy activity and technology
She works globally and locally and has cross culture relevance from indigenous and developing communities. Cris is a visionary, who clearly sees that the ways in which humans are using technology are not sustainable, and the time to act is now. Activist, advocate, author, and prolific speaker, Cris helps people move from the virtual, back into the real world.
by Heart Light Digital