New research carried out in England and reported on the BBC shows that the last year of lockdown has affected young children’s language skills. The evidence shows that “poor speech development can have long-term effects on learning”. Lack of contact with the wider family as well as teachers and other children is normally an important part of developing and growing vocabulary. The lack of this opportunity combined with face masks has reduced the number of opportunities to learn and speak more frequently. The research carried out at primary schools showed that “76% said pupils starting school in September 2020 needed more support with communication than in previous years…and 96% they were concerned about pupils’ speech-and-language development”. Of the 50,000 four- and five-year-olds who started school in September, when compared to those children in the same period of 2019, between 20-25% needed help with language skills. This phenomenon is probably true for all countries around the world, though few will have to gone to the extent of analysing this fact. Let’s hope that more of them will try to remedy this situation, but if the problem is not even on the radar then it is unlikely nothing will be done.
