According to independent studies by Brown University and LENA – a national non-profit focused on early language development, infants born during the pandemic produced significantly fewer vocalizations and had less verbal back-and-forth with their caretakers compared to those born before COVID. The joint finding is the latest troubling evidence of developmental delays discovered when researchers compared babies born before and after COVID.
The research teams used LENA’s “talk pedometer” technology to glean their findings. The wearable device delivers detailed information on what children hear throughout the day. It measures the number of words spoken near the child in addition to the child’s own language-related vocalizations.
It also counts child-adult interactions, called “conversational turns,” which both research groups say are critical to language acquisition. “They were not as attentive, or at least not performing as well as we normally have seen,” said Sean Deoni, principal investigator at Brown’s Advanced Baby Imaging Lab.
Tests also showed, that these babies experienced a significantly slower rate of white matter development versus the children from studies done before the pandemic. “White matter is basically the wiring of the brain,” Deoni said. “It’s what carries information throughout the brain and to different cortical regions where it is processed. White matter damage, for example, is a hallmark of multiple sclerosis. Reduced white matter development is associated with reduced cognitive development.” Deoni and his team also found a significant drop in adult words per hour and conversational turns between the two groups of children. The deficit will have a significant impact on kids he said, citing his own group’s earlier research.
LENA’s study showed child vocalizations dropped significantly across all groups of children, but particularly among those from the lowest socioeconomic level. The frequency of caregiver/child conversations also decreased dramatically, particularly among children from the poorest families, it found.
LENA’s Language Environment Analysis software also measured the total number of adult words and adult-child conversations. LENA conducted follow-up evaluations at nine to 14 years of age. It concluded that adult-child conversations influence a child’s IQ, verbal comprehension and vocabulary scores 10 years later. And it’s not just a language acquisition problem. Reduced verbal development is being driven by poor motor development, Deoni said. This early foundational skill could have a lasting impact on children, one that can be hard to correct for as they age.