5 year old not watching tv

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Anyone else have a kid with no interest or attention span for watching tv? I can hardly get my daughter to focus in on 3 min Elmo clip off YouTube, definitely not a full episode of Dora or anything like that. Is this normal? For aspires? Auties? ADHD?

I have a 7 year old and he always had trouble with anything on TV that was too socially oriented or that was not special interesty. He won't even watch most of the educational stuff all the way through b/c it much too much social content designed to capture NT kids' interests. He certainly won't sit through the programming that is meant to be pro-social, except for the Chinese language parts of Kai Lan.

He will watch a couple of shows all the way through but only if they are special interesty and have very little social content. (A.K.A little "pointless" character interaction)

I'm the opposite. If I hear something on the TV I'm mesmerized. Even if I find it annoying, it's hard for me to pull away and focus on anything else if I'm in the same room. (asperger's) Everyone is different though.

I hardly ever watch TV unless it's something that I really enjoy. TV just isn't something that interests me.

My son never watched children's shows on TV, he watch only a CNN type news show from age 1 and screamed if I tried to change the channel. He still does not watch much now aged 14 (Asperger's diagnosis) but likes some factual stuff like Bones, but not much else.

I love documentaries. On pretty much anything.

The TV can mess with the brain. It isn't just the content, it is the screen, lighting and flickering images. Since TV isn't healthy for kids anyway, just keep it off. Nothing to worry about, IMHO.

Auditory Processing issues can make watching TV/Movies nearly impossible. I wonder if that it part of your kiddo's lack of interest?

Good, it sounds like your kids are on the right track to being very intelligent. For the boy, let him go play outside or get him some building blocks or clay. For the girl, since she's a wee bit younger...I don't know. Its probably a bit more work for you but so many kids are completely indoctrinated and baby sat by tv now, I think their lack of interest is a disguised blessing.

As fas as I understand it its quite common with Auties. My son is 5 and non-verbal and would never watch TV, however recently he has started with specific things only: Thomas the Tank Engine, Chugginton and Number Jacks. He will watch up to 20-30 minutes.
Thats it nothing else interests him yet, but I was quite pleased because to my mind and seeing his reactions it shows understanding rather than just seeing the TV as noise and lights.

celebrate, congrats! On the flip sde is my electronics obsessed 6yo with aspergers. He has and continues to be obsessed with anythng like TV shows, movies, video games, computer, iPad etc...what I would give for him to unplug for a day.

On the flip side, it has helped him become more approachapbe to peers. He knows about mario and luigi and is really good at the games, he helps other kids and the are excited that he can do so much. In the past he liked classical composers and broadway plays. not something other 5yos at the time ever knew of, and when he approached others and asked it they liked Bach or which of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi was their fav, they looked at him like he had 10 heads and walked away. Although Id like the classical music obsession much better then this one!

What do your kiddos like? I would seriously celebrate and be thrilled that TV isnt a part of your day!

My neice rather play outside then watch tv.

I don't see why it's even a issue to have a short attention span for TV. Watching TV is a luxury and not a need. Plus too much TV is bad and I think it's a good thing to not be interested in it. It means they may be more active and do more things.

I don't think it is a matter of it being "bad," so much that it is interesting to figure out why.

Also, even though I certainly don't care at home; At school they do sometimes show pro-social PBS tv shows during the time between when the "bus" kids leave and the "car" kids leave, to pacify them and so the "bus" kids do not miss anything important. It is awkward when your child is the only one who won't sit through it. They give mine educational stuff to work on instead, but it just emphasizes the differences. Yeah, I could pick him up early and piss off the teacher by disrupting her schedule, but that would still set him apart. Also the last thing I need is a more pissed off teacher. I save that for more important battles.

Also it doesn't get past the issue of him not being interested in social situations, which doesn't bode well for reading wider types of older child fiction.

Sorry if that was a hijack, but I wanted to clarify that it might be relevant to other things other than the obvious.

My autistic son would scream if I turned the telly on as a toddler. He found a dvd he liked at three and just watched that repeatedly for a couple of years. By five he would watch the odd program on CBeebies though. I think it does matter if a child with very demanding needs won't sit and watch TV for fifteen minutes - it makes going to the loo / cooking the dinner etc quite tricky! I think my son was confused by TV initially to be honest. I think he loved the dvd so much (had his favourite animals in) he pushed through and after getting used to that, he was ready to give other things a chance. I'm aspergers and I don't watch a lot. I prefer films as they have an ending, books as they are less stimulating, or the internet as it's something to do. If I do watch TV I struggle to sit and just watch it. I wind up doing my nails, playing my son's DS or reading something at the same time!

for the people that say that TV, and by extension everything with a screen is bad. I just say you are a bunch of primitives.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APE8M9MeOWA[/youtube]