An Ofsted report has concluded that lockdowns have left a generation of babies and young children struggling to communicate.
Inspectors found that youngsters at childminders and children in pre-schools are finding it difficult to make friends.
They’re also struggling with speech, language and using the toilet independently.
According to The Telegraph:
Children were not socialising with each other as much because of communication problems, lacked confidence and were shy and anxious with babies in particular not used to seeing different faces.
There are also delays in babies learning to crawl and walk and some children had regressed, meaning they needed help with skills such as putting on their coats and blowing their nose.
Delays in development mean more children are unlikely to be ready for school by the age of four, the report warned.
Chief inspector Amanda Spielman said the pandemic had created “lingering challenges”.
“I’m particularly worried about younger children’s development which, if left unaddressed, could potentially cause problems for primary schools down the line,” she said.
Ofsted published the briefings, the second in a set of reports exploring how learners have recovered from pandemic learning loss, on Monday.
The report, based on inspections of 70 early years’ providers in Jan and Feb 2022, found some providers said children had “limited vocabulary” while “some babies have struggled to respond to basic facial expressions”.
Children have also missed out on having conversations or hearing stories, with one provider saying that young children seem to have spent more time on screens and have started to use accents and voices from programmes they watched.
A few providers said that wearing face masks is continuing to have a negative impact on young children’s language and communication skills.
Those turning two “will have been surrounded by adults wearing masks for their whole lives and have therefore been unable to see lip movements or mouth shapes as regularly”, the report said.
And to think that the forthcoming Covid Inquiry – headed by Baroness Hallett – doesn’t seem to think that investigating the impact of lockdowns on children is important.
In the inquiry’s draft terms of reference, children and young people are only hinted at once, in a sub-heading which refers to “restrictions on attendance at places of education.
