How did the pandemic affect early language development?
Many parents are asking whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected their child’s speech and language development. The reality is that long-term studies conducted over many years are needed to truly understand the impact that the pandemic had on children’s development. Nonetheless, researchers are actively trying to understand whether the stress of the pandemic and need for lockdown ordinances have lead to unintended repercussions on early child development.
What do we know so far?
Whether the pandemic affected early speech and language development varies from study to study.
One research group from Columbia University has been following the development of three groups of babies born in New York City: two groups born during the pandemic (one group whose mothers tested positive for COVID-19 during their pregnancy and one group whose mothers did not) and another group born before the pandemic. Parents were surveyed when their children were 6 months of age to compare early development.
Researchers found no difference in the development of babies born during the pandemic whose mothers had tested positive for COVID-19 while pregnant, meaning that prenatal exposure to COVID-19 did not affect development at 6 months of age.
On the other hand, when comparing 6 month-old babies born during the pandemic to babies born before the pandemic, researchers found that pandemic babies performed poorer in areas related to:
Gross motor skills - for example, rolling and pushing up with straight arms when on tummy
Fine motor skills - for example, holding a toy with both hands or bringing toys to mouth
Personal and social skills - for example, understanding the difference between strangers and familiar people and enjoying attention from caregivers
Their research suggests that at 6 months of age, babies’ early motor and social milestones were primarily impacted by the pandemic.
But what about later in development, as children are expected to begin saying their first words? Researchers in Ireland looked at how babies born at the onset of the pandemic performed on a developmental questionnaire completed by their parents at 12 months of age. They compared their results to babies born before the pandemic who turned 12 months of age in 2009-2012. They noted that, compared to babies born before the pandemic, fewer pandemic babies said at least one meaningful word (76.6% vs 89.3%), pointed (83.8% vs 92.8%), and waved bye-bye (87.7% vs 94.4%).
Percentage of 12-Month-Olds Meeting Early Milestones Before and During the Pandemic
Another study in the United Kingdom is suggesting that a lack of interaction with peers during the pandemic had a negative effect on language comprehension and cognitive development in children ages 8-36 months. Researchers found that babies who went to daycare or participated in group activities with their peers during the height of the pandemic could understand more words by the end of the year than those who spent the majority of their time at home. Participation in early childhood education programs led to improved executive functioning, or cognitive skills in areas of attention and regulating behavior.
Why the delay?
While more studies are needed to better understand causes for delays in early development during the pandemic, researchers have some guesses. Some are hinting at high reports of parental stress and anxiety affecting a baby’s development. Stress impacts how we interact with others. And, the pandemic gave many families an increased emotional and financial burden, possibly impacting the frequency and type of interactions parents had with their children. Furthermore, poor access to healthcare and therapy services meant that some delays went undetected or untreated for months.
Lastly, lack of childcare and early education programs resulted in decreased interactions with the outside world, which are necessary to form early social skills. For example, not all babies born during the pandemic had new and exciting things in their environment to point out or friends and family coming and going to say “goodbye” to as they got older. Researchers think that pandemic babies didn’t have enough opportunities to practice early communication skills like pointing or waving, which is may be why they are lagging behind in this area.
Read with caution:
Current research on how the pandemic impacted child development is in its early stages. In fact, many scientists caution that it’s too soon to draw meaningful conclusions from short-term studies. Much of the cutting edge research has yet to be confirmed, so it’s unclear whether the studies accurately represent the general population. Plus, with the height of the pandemic not too long ago, researchers are unable to assess long-term effects.
What can we do to help?
But, what we do know for certain is that babies and children are resilient. Especially during their first few years of life when their brain is forming new connections quickly. Regardless of if your little one’s delay was compounded by the pandemic, you can help them reach their fullest potential by playing with and talking to them everyday. You can also give them safe opportunities to interact with peers and adults to promote their development.
If you suspect your child has a speech delay, reaching out to your doctor and a speech therapist would be a good first step. With Babbly’s help, a trained speech therapist can evaluate your child’s current communication skills and help you make informed decisions about how you can support your little one’s overall development.
References:
Byrne, S., Sledge, H., Franklin, R., Boland, F., Murray, D. M., & Hourihane, J. (2022). Social communication skill attainment in babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic: a birth cohort study. Archives of Disease in Childhood, archdischild-2021. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2021-323441
Davies, C., Hendry, A., Gibson, S. P., Gliga, T., McGillion, M., & Gonzalez‐Gomez, N. (2021). Early childhood education and care (ECEC) during COVID‐19 boosts growth in language and executive function. Infant and Child Development, 30(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2241
Shuffrey, L. C., Firestein, M. R., Kyle, M. H., Fields, A., Alcántara, C., Amso, D., Austin, J., Bain, J. M., Barbosa, J., Bence, M., Bianco, C., Fernández, C. R., Goldman, S., Gyamfi-Bannerman, C., Hott, V., Hu, Y., Hussain, M., Factor-Litvak, P., Lucchini, M., . . . Dumitriu, D. (2022). Association of Birth During the COVID-19 Pandemic With Neurodevelopmental Status at 6 Months in Infants With and Without In Utero Exposure to Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection. JAMA Pediatrics, 176(6), e215563. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5563