by NYC Private Schools on October 29, 2009
We are excited to announce that Faye Rogaski, founder of socialsklz:-) manners for the modern world, will join us as a regular blog contributor in the area of modern day social skills for children, tweens and teens.
As the founder of socialsklz:-) manners for the modern world, Faye Rogaski is not only an expert on social interaction and etiquette, but also a dedicated community leader, public relations professional and experienced marketing strategist.
As the former vice president of international public relations agency, Brown Lloyd James (BLJ), Rogaski has represented high profile clients like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elizabeth Taylor along with non-profit accounts such as the Marine Stewardship Council and The Prince’s Trust. She has been involved in the development and execution of major marketing and PR initiatives on projects as diverse as the launch of BBC America stateside, the Marilyn Monroe Auction at Christie’s and the Lee Strasberg Centennial, for which she produced the award-winning Lee Strasberg 100th Birthday Tribute and had a New York City street named in Strasberg’s honor.
In 2003, Rogaski formed Faye Elizabeth Communications, Inc., with the goal of leveraging her extensive entertainment and media contacts to develop clients’ profiles, shape images, enhance reputations, achieve business objectives and influence public opinion. Faye is responsible for attracting a mix of influential and press-worthy clients that have earned her firm its exceptional reputation with the media. Those clients include Big Red Frog, The Body Mechanics, The Broadway Channel, The Center for Balanced Health and Dr. Keith Berkowitz, Gilda’s Club, Detour to Wellness/GlaxoSmithKline, Imogen Lloyd Webber, Momasphere, the Wildlife Conservation Society and a number of both fiction and non-fiction books.
Rogaski received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Boston College and is a graduate of the International School of Protocol. Her work with young adults is most noted in her position as a professor of Public Relations Techniques and Tactics at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Previously she was an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Fordham Graduate School of Business. She is also the President of the American Heart Association (AHA) Young Professionals and an active Congressional lobbyist for the AHA.
Rogaski has appeared on the Today Show, CBS News, The Jane Pauley Show, CNN, NY1 and Oprah Radio. She has been featured in Woman’s Day, The Daily Record, Self and she was the cover story for the inaugural issue of Panache magazine (Gannett). Based on her professional experience she developed a personal desire to empower future generations which has led to her success with socialsklz:-) manners for the modern world.
by Courtney Rennicke, Ph.D. on July 26, 2009
For many New York City parents, popping in an educational DVD or turning on the television for your children is a necessary evil to occupy young minds while you get dinner ready after a long day at work or perhaps an even longer day spent with your kids indoors during this rainy summer. The question of whether or not watching television, including educational videos, is detrimental or beneficial for children is one of those third rails of parenting that can make even the chummiest of play groups parents turn quiet and steely quick.
Should children watch television? If so, how much? What kind of programs? I mean television is bad for my child, right? What about educational videos? They have to be okay…right?
Many parents have some sense that too much television is a negative thing. The usual set of beliefs is that if children are watching a video or TV, they are not doing other things that are crucial to their development like creative play, reading, exercising, and hanging out with friends. This bit of parenting wisdom, that television and videos are a poor substitution for engaging with life, is now beginning to be more thoroughly documented and vetted by neuroscience. In short, kids need face-to-face interaction in order to learn.
When it comes to language development, according to Healthday.com, researchers at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital found that in a study of 329 children aged 4 years old and younger, each hour of additional television watched corresponded with a 7% (770 word) decrease in the vocalizations parents made to their children, as well as decreased vocalizations by the infants and toddlers to their parents. Basically, when the television or a video is on, parents talk less to their children who then do not get a chance to practice talking back to their parents. If this happens repeatedly, potential delays in language development can emerge.
“Some of these reductions are likely due to children being left alone in front of the television screen, but others likely reflect situations in which adults, though present, are distracted by the screen and not interacting with their infant in a discernable manner,” wrote Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, of Seattle Children’s Hospital, and colleagues.
Okay, so it seems kind of self-evident that more television and videos means less child-parent chatter, but why is social interaction such a crucial part of development? Wouldn’t it also make sense that if the video or television show was talking to the toddler that they would have an opportunity to hear and practice the same vocalizations?
Well, according to new findings from researchers at The University of Washington (published in Science this month), there is something inherently social about the nature of human intelligence and learning. Babies and toddlers are not only taking in information like computers, they are scanning to see what their parents are looking at and experiencing varying levels of their parents energy and excitement when they come across something interesting.
“A major role we play as parents is teaching children where the important things are for them to learn. One way we do this is through joint visual attention or eye-gaze. This is a social mechanism and children can find what is important – we call them informational ‘hot spots’ – by following the gaze of another person. By being connected to others we also learn by example and imitation.” Andrew Meltzoff, Ph.D. University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences
For example, toddlers were able to learn a second language when taught by another person face-to-face, but not from the same person on television. Thus the moral of the story might be for now that in and of themselves television and educational videos are not intellectually stimulating for your kids, but potentially your interaction with your children while watching a program might be.
Have no fear harried parents, the quest has already been embarked upon by researchers to create robots and computer programming that are more human-like and thus more educational. The witching hour might have a guilt-free, parental substitute yet.
About the Contributor: Courtney Rennicke, Ph.D. is an advisory team member and regular contributor to the NYC Private Schools Blog in the area of parenting and child development.
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