Michael Ejercito
2024-09-02 15:35:23 UTC
https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/1f6fygf/how_did_the_pandemic_impact_babies_starting/
How did the pandemic impact babies starting school as children now?
1 day ago
Share
Vanessa Clarke
Education reporter
Fiona Young A baby in a blue sleepsuit is lying in a moses basket. Above
the basket his father's hand is holding an ipad and on the screen there
is a couple in a garden waving helloFiona Young
Baby Elijah, who was born in the strictest lockdown, met his
grandparents for the first time online
On 25 March 2020, Fiona and Ben Young drove to their local maternity
unit through London’s empty streets. When they arrived, security guards
sent them to the back entrance. It was day three of England's first
lockdown and the front was surrounded by patients being treated by
doctors in hazmat suits.
Two days later, after a long labour, they welcomed baby Elijah.
Delighted and exhausted, they left the hospital and headed home, full of
anticipation over their new life as parents.
But because of lockdown, it was far from what they expected.
"No-one was allowed to visit us for months - there were no newborn
cuddles with family," Fiona recalls.
"I had a number to ring if there was an emergency, which didn’t work. We
had no health visitor and no midwives. Our first visitor was a friend
who walked four hours across London to sit in our garden."
Elijah, now four and about to start school, is one of tens of thousands
of babies born during the Covid pandemic. He is also one of 200 children
being studied as a 'lockdown baby'.
The Bicycle (Born in Covid Year, Core Lockdown Effects) study, which
launched in July, is looking at whether the lockdowns had an impact on
children's talking and thinking skills.
Based at London's City University, it also involves five other English
universities.
A girl with curly hair is smiling at the camera in a light blue jumper
More than a third of the children going into reception at Elizabeth
Selby have speech and language needs
"Some children may have benefited from more time at home with their
parents and some children might have been negatively impacted," Prof
Lucy Henry of City University explains.
"They may be learning words more slowly or their fine motor skills may
possibly be behind.
"The real question is: who was affected and what can we do to support
them as they go into their school lives?"
Reduced interactions with family members and the loss of access to
services such as health visitors has had a serious impact on the speech
and language of some of these children, initial research by the
University of Leeds found at the end of 2023.
In Bethnal Green, London, twins Aqil and Fawaz were just eight weeks old
when the pandemic hit.
Their mother, Fahmeda Ahmed, lived in a second-floor flat with her
husband and their two older children - Hasan, four, and two-year-old
Khaijah.
"It was just the same day over and over again," she said. "We couldn't
go out, we couldn’t socialise, we couldn’t invite friends over and we
couldn't go anywhere with the kids."
A boy in a grey hat and a stripy navy jumper sits beside a lady in a
black and white dress and a black hijab. They are both holding an orange
pencil and writing. They are in a classroom sitting at a yellow table
with yellow seats and red blinds behind them
Fahmeda and her son Aqil had regular pre-school catch up sessions to
help him with his progress
Fahmeda bought an inflatable swimming pool for the balcony to try and
keep her older children entertained.
She attempted to homeschool her four-year-old, who had just started
reception, but he completely stopped talking.
And then there was baby Aqil. He was having difficulty swallowing and
Fahmeda tried for months to get a face-to-face appointment with a doctor.
Eventually, at three months, he was diagnosed with tracheomalacia, a
condition where the walls of a child’s windpipe collapse. He needed a
minor operation.
Check out BBC Tiny Happy People's pages on language development for
three- to four- and four- to five-year-olds
Covid inquiry investigates impact on children
Child speech delays increase following lockdowns
How will museums of tomorrow tell the Covid story?
“I was so scared going into the hospital because you would hear stories
that you would catch [Covid]," Fahmeda said.
"And I remember when Aqil was going into theatre, I was so upset. There
was a nurse there and she said ‘I'm so sorry. I can't hug you’."
Four years on, Aqil and Fawaz are healthy young boys, about to start
reception at Elizabeth Selby Infants' School in Bethnal Green.
But they both have speech and language needs.
Their two-year child development check was delayed, they weren't able to
attend any baby classes and their first year involved very little
interaction with the outside world.
Fahmeda believes all these factors have had a lasting effect, and
experts agree.
"Children need opportunities to go out into the world and have new
experiences and with those new experiences come new words - but that is
happening less during the cost-of-living crisis and it happened less
during the pandemic," says Jane Harris, head of children's charity
Speech and Language UK.
A teacher with brown hair holds up a large book to a class of
pre-schoolers sitting on a colourful mat with a bug pattern, listening
to the story. Many are sitting with their legs crossed with their hands
together.
The school has employed a speech and language therapist for its
pre-schoolers for the first time
Prof Catherine Davies, from the University of Leeds, who is also
involved in the study, says many of the safety nets for families like
Fahmeda's were taken away during the pandemic.
“The education systems weren't there, health and medical support was not
there, their interaction with their wider social networks wasn't there,"
she said.
One third of pre-schoolers (34%) at Elizabeth Selby had speech and
language needs during the last school year - up from a quarter (25%) in
2020, according to the school.
This year, the school has had to employ a speech and language therapist
for its pre-school class for the first time.
In June, 22,952 children were waiting 19 to 52 weeks for a speech and
language therapy appointment, and 5,832 children were waiting over a
year, according to NHS England.
The Department for Education in England says it will be focusing on high
quality early education and is continuing the Nuffield Early Language
Intervention programme for another year.
“If I could, I'd have a speech and language teacher in five days a week
- and I would still have a waiting list," says Shahi Ahmed, head teacher
at Elizabeth Selby.
"But I have to think about the budget and how that impacts the school."
Mr Ahmed says there is a "massive increase" in the number of children
needing help with toilet training, which takes teachers away from
teaching. The school is now bringing in outside agencies to help support
parents.
And among all of this, attendance is falling, which Mr Ahmed says is
important as it sets "routine and expectations".
A man with brown hair and a beige shirt sits at a table smiling at a
young girl with curly hair and a leopard body warmer and beige woollen
cardigan. She is playing a blue drum and smiling back.
Lots of families haven't had health visitors or access to GP appointments
Mr Ahmed believes the increase in children needing more help is
"absolutely" a direct result of the pandemic.
"They didn’t have the chance to interact with other children or even
just go out or have visitors to the house," he says.
"They've been limited to what's around them - and that has caused a gap
in their social interaction skills."
Thankfully, Fahmeda says her twin boys have already benefited from their
time in Elizabeth Selby's pre-school classes.
"Fawaz has changed completely - he never used to call me mum," she says,
wiping her tears away.
"It's so nice to hear. You might think I'm being silly, but that’s so
amazing and it’s because of the teachers."
As for Elijah, his first interactions with family members were all on Zoom.
"We would hold up the iPad to his face and introduce him but he wasn’t
really paying much attention," Fiona said.
"I think he saw the lights and colour but I don’t think he understood he
was meeting humans."
He didn't attend any baby classes as they had all been cancelled. "He
spent the first three months solely with us," she said.
Elijah was diagnosed with tongue tie when he was born. Fiona and Ben
were told by a midwife that they would be better off getting tongue-tie
surgery, also known as a lingual frenotomy, privately, as there would be
a long wait on the NHS.
"The first day I came back from hospital I was phoning around
frantically to find someone who could do it privately but no-one was
allowed to physically come in - it wasn’t legal for them to come in and
do the operation," Fiona explained.
Elijah finally had the operation when he was two-months-old.
Katie Monnelly A young girl in a yellow dress and hairband is sitting on
a couch and over her shoulder we can see a pink ipad with a game with
two grey squares. Her hand is ready to touch the game. Katie Monnelly
Over the next year, the Bicycle project will be using interactive games
to study children born during the strictest lockdown
The long-term impact of Elijah's early years remain to be seen but it
was certainly a "tricky" time for his parents.
Two years after Elijah's birth, Fiona and Ben were back in the same
maternity room, welcoming a baby girl.
“It was a completely different experience, both in the hospital and
after," Fiona said.
"My mum saw Amelia within 12 hours and was giving her newborn cuddles."
The couple volunteered to take part in the Bicycle study because they
want to help researchers understand exactly how the lockdowns affected
the youngest members of society.
It's hoped the results will help answer one pressing question - if it
happens again, what should we do differently?
How did the pandemic impact babies starting school as children now?
1 day ago
Share
Vanessa Clarke
Education reporter
Fiona Young A baby in a blue sleepsuit is lying in a moses basket. Above
the basket his father's hand is holding an ipad and on the screen there
is a couple in a garden waving helloFiona Young
Baby Elijah, who was born in the strictest lockdown, met his
grandparents for the first time online
On 25 March 2020, Fiona and Ben Young drove to their local maternity
unit through London’s empty streets. When they arrived, security guards
sent them to the back entrance. It was day three of England's first
lockdown and the front was surrounded by patients being treated by
doctors in hazmat suits.
Two days later, after a long labour, they welcomed baby Elijah.
Delighted and exhausted, they left the hospital and headed home, full of
anticipation over their new life as parents.
But because of lockdown, it was far from what they expected.
"No-one was allowed to visit us for months - there were no newborn
cuddles with family," Fiona recalls.
"I had a number to ring if there was an emergency, which didn’t work. We
had no health visitor and no midwives. Our first visitor was a friend
who walked four hours across London to sit in our garden."
Elijah, now four and about to start school, is one of tens of thousands
of babies born during the Covid pandemic. He is also one of 200 children
being studied as a 'lockdown baby'.
The Bicycle (Born in Covid Year, Core Lockdown Effects) study, which
launched in July, is looking at whether the lockdowns had an impact on
children's talking and thinking skills.
Based at London's City University, it also involves five other English
universities.
A girl with curly hair is smiling at the camera in a light blue jumper
More than a third of the children going into reception at Elizabeth
Selby have speech and language needs
"Some children may have benefited from more time at home with their
parents and some children might have been negatively impacted," Prof
Lucy Henry of City University explains.
"They may be learning words more slowly or their fine motor skills may
possibly be behind.
"The real question is: who was affected and what can we do to support
them as they go into their school lives?"
Reduced interactions with family members and the loss of access to
services such as health visitors has had a serious impact on the speech
and language of some of these children, initial research by the
University of Leeds found at the end of 2023.
In Bethnal Green, London, twins Aqil and Fawaz were just eight weeks old
when the pandemic hit.
Their mother, Fahmeda Ahmed, lived in a second-floor flat with her
husband and their two older children - Hasan, four, and two-year-old
Khaijah.
"It was just the same day over and over again," she said. "We couldn't
go out, we couldn’t socialise, we couldn’t invite friends over and we
couldn't go anywhere with the kids."
A boy in a grey hat and a stripy navy jumper sits beside a lady in a
black and white dress and a black hijab. They are both holding an orange
pencil and writing. They are in a classroom sitting at a yellow table
with yellow seats and red blinds behind them
Fahmeda and her son Aqil had regular pre-school catch up sessions to
help him with his progress
Fahmeda bought an inflatable swimming pool for the balcony to try and
keep her older children entertained.
She attempted to homeschool her four-year-old, who had just started
reception, but he completely stopped talking.
And then there was baby Aqil. He was having difficulty swallowing and
Fahmeda tried for months to get a face-to-face appointment with a doctor.
Eventually, at three months, he was diagnosed with tracheomalacia, a
condition where the walls of a child’s windpipe collapse. He needed a
minor operation.
Check out BBC Tiny Happy People's pages on language development for
three- to four- and four- to five-year-olds
Covid inquiry investigates impact on children
Child speech delays increase following lockdowns
How will museums of tomorrow tell the Covid story?
“I was so scared going into the hospital because you would hear stories
that you would catch [Covid]," Fahmeda said.
"And I remember when Aqil was going into theatre, I was so upset. There
was a nurse there and she said ‘I'm so sorry. I can't hug you’."
Four years on, Aqil and Fawaz are healthy young boys, about to start
reception at Elizabeth Selby Infants' School in Bethnal Green.
But they both have speech and language needs.
Their two-year child development check was delayed, they weren't able to
attend any baby classes and their first year involved very little
interaction with the outside world.
Fahmeda believes all these factors have had a lasting effect, and
experts agree.
"Children need opportunities to go out into the world and have new
experiences and with those new experiences come new words - but that is
happening less during the cost-of-living crisis and it happened less
during the pandemic," says Jane Harris, head of children's charity
Speech and Language UK.
A teacher with brown hair holds up a large book to a class of
pre-schoolers sitting on a colourful mat with a bug pattern, listening
to the story. Many are sitting with their legs crossed with their hands
together.
The school has employed a speech and language therapist for its
pre-schoolers for the first time
Prof Catherine Davies, from the University of Leeds, who is also
involved in the study, says many of the safety nets for families like
Fahmeda's were taken away during the pandemic.
“The education systems weren't there, health and medical support was not
there, their interaction with their wider social networks wasn't there,"
she said.
One third of pre-schoolers (34%) at Elizabeth Selby had speech and
language needs during the last school year - up from a quarter (25%) in
2020, according to the school.
This year, the school has had to employ a speech and language therapist
for its pre-school class for the first time.
In June, 22,952 children were waiting 19 to 52 weeks for a speech and
language therapy appointment, and 5,832 children were waiting over a
year, according to NHS England.
The Department for Education in England says it will be focusing on high
quality early education and is continuing the Nuffield Early Language
Intervention programme for another year.
“If I could, I'd have a speech and language teacher in five days a week
- and I would still have a waiting list," says Shahi Ahmed, head teacher
at Elizabeth Selby.
"But I have to think about the budget and how that impacts the school."
Mr Ahmed says there is a "massive increase" in the number of children
needing help with toilet training, which takes teachers away from
teaching. The school is now bringing in outside agencies to help support
parents.
And among all of this, attendance is falling, which Mr Ahmed says is
important as it sets "routine and expectations".
A man with brown hair and a beige shirt sits at a table smiling at a
young girl with curly hair and a leopard body warmer and beige woollen
cardigan. She is playing a blue drum and smiling back.
Lots of families haven't had health visitors or access to GP appointments
Mr Ahmed believes the increase in children needing more help is
"absolutely" a direct result of the pandemic.
"They didn’t have the chance to interact with other children or even
just go out or have visitors to the house," he says.
"They've been limited to what's around them - and that has caused a gap
in their social interaction skills."
Thankfully, Fahmeda says her twin boys have already benefited from their
time in Elizabeth Selby's pre-school classes.
"Fawaz has changed completely - he never used to call me mum," she says,
wiping her tears away.
"It's so nice to hear. You might think I'm being silly, but that’s so
amazing and it’s because of the teachers."
As for Elijah, his first interactions with family members were all on Zoom.
"We would hold up the iPad to his face and introduce him but he wasn’t
really paying much attention," Fiona said.
"I think he saw the lights and colour but I don’t think he understood he
was meeting humans."
He didn't attend any baby classes as they had all been cancelled. "He
spent the first three months solely with us," she said.
Elijah was diagnosed with tongue tie when he was born. Fiona and Ben
were told by a midwife that they would be better off getting tongue-tie
surgery, also known as a lingual frenotomy, privately, as there would be
a long wait on the NHS.
"The first day I came back from hospital I was phoning around
frantically to find someone who could do it privately but no-one was
allowed to physically come in - it wasn’t legal for them to come in and
do the operation," Fiona explained.
Elijah finally had the operation when he was two-months-old.
Katie Monnelly A young girl in a yellow dress and hairband is sitting on
a couch and over her shoulder we can see a pink ipad with a game with
two grey squares. Her hand is ready to touch the game. Katie Monnelly
Over the next year, the Bicycle project will be using interactive games
to study children born during the strictest lockdown
The long-term impact of Elijah's early years remain to be seen but it
was certainly a "tricky" time for his parents.
Two years after Elijah's birth, Fiona and Ben were back in the same
maternity room, welcoming a baby girl.
“It was a completely different experience, both in the hospital and
after," Fiona said.
"My mum saw Amelia within 12 hours and was giving her newborn cuddles."
The couple volunteered to take part in the Bicycle study because they
want to help researchers understand exactly how the lockdowns affected
the youngest members of society.
It's hoped the results will help answer one pressing question - if it
happens again, what should we do differently?