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THE NEWLY IMPLEMENTED use of masks by primary school children, third class and up, has sparked a heated debate.
Watching people’s faces, mouths and expressions is central to children learning communication skills. With opaque masks hiding half the face, is this going to have a detrimental impact on children’s development? Public safety is of course at the forefront, but parents are naturally concerned about this step.
How do children learn speech and language?
Speech and language skills develop rapidly during the first few years. Babies are hard-wired to learn communication skills including speech and language. Children learn speech through watching our lips, tongue, and mouth.
If we think of the ‘f’ speech sound, the visual component of learning this sound is seeing the front top teeth in contact with the lower lip. The typical development pattern is learning through observation. Therefore, we see children’s comprehensive skills developing ahead of their expressive skills.
Communication skills also include reading emotions, body language, gesture, and tone of voice. Babies as young as 10-months-old start to recognise basic emotions including happiness, sadness, and anger.
One study at Florida Atlantic University used eye gaze technology to track the movements of babies’ eyes compared to adults when shown a video of a woman talking. They found that infants aged four-months-old looked longer at the woman’s eyes, six-month-olds looked equally at her eyes and mouth while eight and 10-months-old spent longer looking at her mouth. By comparison, adults looked longer at the eyes. So how can we help prevent any negative impact?
Voice wellness and mask use
Mask users experience a loss of visual information, reduction in sound clarity and articulation and an increase in effort and voice fatigue. Mask wearers often report they have to speak louder or repeat themselves which can lead to vocal fatigue, hoarseness, or other vocal problems.
Tips for children wearing face masks
Masks can make communication more difficult. Masks muffle sound, inhibit lip-reading, and interpret facial expression. Children can quickly become frustrated if they are not understood so encourage your child to do the following:
Social and emotional development
The chance to learn from and interact with peers is key to our socioemotional development. The long-term effect of isolation and physical distancing on acquiring skills such as self-regulation and conflict management has yet to be determined.
Increased screen time and reduced social interaction are also of concern. With reduced exercise, and limited playdates and participation in clubs or activities as a result of Covid, it is likely that the social and emotional learning children are exposed to has also been impacted.
It may be speculated that regression will become an issue as learning opportunities are restricted. In my area of work, regression is a red flag and determining the cause of regression is likely to put additional pressure on the already strained waiting lists for speech and language therapy.
What can you do at home to help?
Children are very adaptable. They are also very perceptive and may need some extra support to deal with the anxiety and stressors caused by the pandemic. Try to address this by having open conversations in age-appropriate language to help children understand the emotions they are feeling.
Sticking to your normal routine as much as possible can help children relax as their day is more predictable and familiar. Reinforcing your bond can be hugely beneficial for both parent and child so setting aside 15-minutes a day to play with or read to your child can be really beneficial.
Five fun and easy activities:
This information is for general purposes and does not replace specific medical advice for individuals from your GP. Health care professionals seem to agree that masks should not be used on babies or children under two years old due to the risk of suffocation.
If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development, you can contact a speech and language therapist for help and advice.
Kate Beckett is a Senior Speech and Language Therapist and is owner of Optima Speech Therapy.
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Good on ye! Someone has to do something and yet again it’s nurses. My mum was dying in ICU when we had the last nurses strike in 2019 and in spite of wanting the best for my mum I absolutely supported the nurses then and I will now. They were quite simply angels who helped us through the toughest of times and gave my dear mum what little dignity they could in her final days.
I went into limerick hospital on a Friday late evening with chest pains about two years, the A&E doctor was fairly sure it was muscular after a few tests. Saturday I felt fine and wanted to be discharged, the doctor said he needed the cardiac consultant to see me but he wouldn’t be in till Monday morning. 5pm Monday I was discharged. If there was a cardiac consultant on over the weekend, I could have been gone home Saturday instead off occupying a bed for an extra two nights. Bad management all around, support the nurses but everyone know it’s management is the issue
@Patrick O Connell: the lawyers kept you in for 2 nights
I wonder will they call off any industrial action when a few of their members get some middle management posts (which will then create more paperwork for the staff on the wards) like they did the last time they striked.
Typical contribution from this so called leader. Just how constructive is a call for strike ballot right now. Typical – all bluster and offers nothing in the way of constructive solution. But wait – a 10% salary increase will cure all her ills. Meanwhile the rest of can whistle dixie.
Threatening to go on strike so they can get more money.. Typical while patients of all ages are the ones who have to spend hours in A and E waiting to be seen. Dumped on trollies or chairs and after been seen left with a bill unless you have a medical card.
@Just Some Guy: if this is what you think it’s about, you need to put down the FFFG branded cool-aid .
@Just Some Guy: Read the articles. They’re as stressed over the overcrowding and understaffing as anyone else – unlike the patients and voters, they’re doing something to change this ridiculous scenario where every year hundreds of sick people are stuck in corridors. Ireland needs thousands more bed spaces And the staff to give them the healthcare they all deserve. Good for the staff who aren’t being fobbed off with annual excuses. They’re the very people who have been warning the people of Ireland that this is not only happening again but getting worse.
@Just Some Guy: Jesus, Varadkar, Martin, Donnelly will be delighted with you for that comment. Wonder why you didn’t blame Doctors ,Nurses, and the staff working themselves to the bone for being responsible for the chaos in the Health service. Bit ironic you failed to mention it was FFG policy the created this mess. Of course that would not suit your agenda…
@Donal Desmond: we have Dave the Ra shouting at anyone that will listen that our health system is terrible and yet his comrade Martina Anderson telling anyone who listen in the North that we have a Dar superior health service.
@Patrick O Connell: Perhaps it has escaped your attention that SF is not in government in the South. You conveniently fail to mention it is FFG who between them have governed this state since it’s foundation. Yet you blame the opposition for the catastrophic health service. As for the North there has been no Government in place since the DUP threw their rattler out of the pram.
@Just Some Guy: did you even read the article? It’s not about money it’s about staffing levels and overcrowding. Nothing will change anyway but at least they are highlighting it
@Just Some Guy: Nurse’s are not going on strike over pay they are going on strike over Patient safety no Nurse’s no beds and no support, have you worked a 12hr shift with no break???
If a disaster like the Stardust were to take place, what would happen? It doesn’t bear thinking about
This is worse than it has ever been….our daughter is a palliative nurse and is trying to treat cancer patients on a trolley in A and E…this is beyond disgusting….get Leo and the other ministers in and see for them selves what it is like…something needs to be done
@Linda Oreilly: Leo knows exactly what it’s like. He was originally a doctor in Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. Martin was previously a health minister. They know precisely what’s wrong but chose to do nothing about it because it doesn’t directly affect them.
@Eddie Feeney: they’ll just ride out this storm besides actually doing something ie actually do a bit of work. But they will give themselves a couple more Pay rises that you can be assured of.
Who knows, maybe these guys are playing the long con so, leave the country in such a state of disarray that when SF do take the hot seat things will be so bad people will just blame them then the current bunch will be back in power before they know it.
Toothless Union,
Fix the health system, end of, as the English say.
When it comes to nurses, it is difficult to be critical, even constructively, because everyone reverts to the emotional arguments to push their point and in so many ways we are so grateful to them.
That said, a lot of the working conditions incl trollies is largely down to nurses unions. They are the frontline. These problems did not develop overnight. Their unions threaten strikes over pay but claim it is all about ‘ patient safety’, yet when have we heard them threaten to go out on strike because of trollies, understaffed/ under equipped services which has been going on for years and only gets worse. 24hr healthcare i e. The likes of MRI scanners etc etc etc being made available. But probably as important, we have seen the decline in nurse morale, nurse numbers and conditions to a frightening level for all which begs the question as to what their unions are doing to protect the profession and patients. So why not use your political influence and threaten to withdraw your services in order to protect patients and profession as often as ye do for money, then we would all be better off. Personally I believe nurses deserve greater pay and conditions and an liveable ‘ Dublin housing allowance’
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