[HN Gopher] Fears children born during lockdown are years behind...
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       Fears children born during lockdown are years behind as they start
       at school
        
       Author : rntn
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2024-09-02 20:57 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
        
       | flobosg wrote:
       | Unedited title: _'They're about two years behind': fears for
       | children born during lockdown as they start at school_
        
         | elevatedastalt wrote:
         | I mean they can at worst be only 4 years behind
        
       | itronitron wrote:
       | >> "Ideally babies need to be exposed to many different people
       | who talk to them, and have a broad range of experiences,"
       | 
       | What a trash article.
        
         | sameoldtune wrote:
         | What do you find problematic with that phrase?
        
         | rolandr wrote:
         | I'm not seeing how you are getting there from that quote. Seems
         | like one of the least controversial sentences in the article.
         | Maybe it would be better to say "should" instead of "need?" In
         | any event the overall point is pretty sound.
         | 
         | Even with dogs, if they are not well socialized when younger,
         | they end up having problems interacting well/appropriately with
         | new dogs and people.
        
       | rich_sasha wrote:
       | It is all blamed on lockdowns, and I'm sure they had an effect.
       | Speech or hearing issues went undiagnosed and untreated, for
       | example.
       | 
       | But surely talking to any adult would do most of the job. All
       | these children brought up by one foreign-speaking parent who end
       | up speaking that language fluently show that. Were these
       | "lockdown children" just left on their own? Or is it indicative
       | that their parents don't talk to them, and their only language
       | learning happened outside of home?
        
         | petermcneeley wrote:
         | I am sure many of these children got expose to language outside
         | of the home; Youtube.
        
           | Thegn wrote:
           | I don't have a source now, but a while ago (pre-pandemic) I
           | saw a study that showed babies don't pick up basic language
           | structures very well at all from videos for whatever reason.
        
         | yarg wrote:
         | Talking with (or listening to) adults is the primary way that
         | children learn to speak - but that's far from the only thing
         | that these children have been deprived of.
         | 
         | The social understanding that children develop by playing with
         | other children is vital as well, and hanging out with other
         | dirty little snot-faced kids is a hugely important part of
         | developing a robust immune system.
        
           | newman314 wrote:
           | Immunity debt is simply not a thing. Just like the notion
           | that a few weeks of masking (at most) somehow gave rise to
           | long term speech issues. [1][2]
           | 
           | [1] https://www.salon.com/2022/12/04/does-your-immune-system-
           | nee...
           | 
           | [2] https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2557:_Immunity
        
         | skybrian wrote:
         | This paragraph suggests that some children are affected more
         | than others:
         | 
         | > Her charity has found 1.9 million children in the UK - one in
         | five - are struggling with speech and language. The problem had
         | already been building before the pandemic, especially in
         | disadvantaged areas.
        
         | Ferret7446 wrote:
         | Socializing among children is crucial for development and
         | cannot be substituted (at least entirely) with adult
         | interaction. It's one of the main problems for homeschooled
         | children.
         | 
         | Not to mention their parents were most likely working from home
         | and not free to play with their kids most of the time.
        
           | SkyPuncher wrote:
           | We moved states and transitioned our old from a nanny to day
           | care. Literally, all of her developmental milestones exploded
           | once she was around other kids.
           | 
           | There's absolutely no substitute for kids seeing kids their
           | age do things.
        
         | bsder wrote:
         | It's almost certainly divided by socioeconomic status.
         | 
         | I know a few folks whose children went through this. They
         | figured out that they should get their children together in
         | super tiny groups (less than 6 but generally no more than 4)
         | with a single teacher. They tried schooling at home but the
         | "mode switch" was too difficult for their young children to
         | understand.
         | 
         | Guess what? Those children are now _so far ahead_ of their
         | peers it is ridiculous.
         | 
         | Education is almost always dependent upon resource.
        
       | bamboozled wrote:
       | Our friends child was born on a farm, pretty isolated during
       | covid, he is 4 and honestly at about a 2 year olds level of
       | understanding and social ability.
        
       | alanbernstein wrote:
       | I would think the kids who should have started kindergarten in
       | 2020 would be the most affected.
        
         | dsr_ wrote:
         | Everyone in US public schooling from 2020 through 2023, really.
        
         | Ferret7446 wrote:
         | Anecdotally, this affected everyone, all the way up through
         | college (though the "damage" of the college students is less
         | permanent since it didn't affect brain development as much).
        
       | tester89 wrote:
       | Is the population _diagnosed_ with autism about to explode in a
       | decade?
        
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       (page generated 2024-09-02 23:01 UTC)