Studies show new technologies are being used successfully to help autistic children develop social skills.

This article documents the use of cell-phone technology as a tool for teachers to reach out to disadvantaged parents of preschoolers with tips for strengthening language skills. While parents may not have the time to read back pack mail, or might be overwhelmed in general with the responsibilities of parenting, random text messages with short tips for helping kids develop language skills can catch parents at just the right time, and - a study shows - are being proven effective in increasing parent-child interaction and improving language development test scores!

An interesting article that focuses on a new type of digital divide: While access to technological devices has evened out between disadvantaged and advantaged families, internet access itself remains a problem for poor school kids - even when they own cell phones and game consoles.

Short NPR news interview (listen or read) with a pediatrician who studies the effect of screen time on the developing brains of young children. Apparently, high exposure to over-stimulating fast-paced TV programs can cause children to engage in risky, reckless behavior later in life. Interestingly, the researchers used mice as well as humans to test some of their theories.

Studies show that internet technology has pros and cons for the developing brain: it increases visual skills - actually stopping their decline over the aging process - but at the cost of the kind of focus that is needed for reading books and forming critical analysis.

While today's parents worry about the impact of technology on the developing brains of young children, new research points to the potential value of touch screen devices as effective learning tools for toddlers.