How has the pandemic impacted children's communication skills?


By The Yorkshire Speechie


During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our little learners experienced limited access to preschool facilities, play centres and other early years facilities. This significantly impacted their chance to develop early communication and language skills.


Attention, listening and social skills


Having limited opportunities to interact with peers has naturally created challenges for children's social communication abilities, such as learning how to initiate play and practice joint attention. These early interaction skills support the understanding of back-and-forth communication and pave the way for turn-taking and sharing skills. These skills impact a child's ability to create and maintain friendships.


Less frequent interactions and social distancing have also caused difficulty for children to understand and regulate their emotions. Group experiences allow children to learn emotional vocabulary and coping strategies for managing difficult feelings. There have also been concerns surrounding the impact of mask-wearing on children's ability to view and recognise facial expressions to understand others' feelings.


Receptive and expressive language


Our early years learners develop receptive and expressive language skills through playing with those around them and observing and listening to others. The lockdown restrictions significantly affected children's exposure to new vocabulary as they prevented access to alternative environments where children could experience new words. This early vocabulary is crucial to language development which has been identified as a predictor of later literacy skills and academic attainment.


In the UK, speech and language therapy services continue to face a substantial demand for support. Many referrals are made based on social communication and early language development. The good news is that we can help support the development of these skills with a range of communication-focused activities. Here are some examples:


Blowing bubbles


1. Start by grabbing the children's attention using an animated voice to explain that you will be playing with bubbles. Blow the bubbles, then pause to wait for the children to show their anticipation. This may be through eye contact, nonverbals such as jumping/reaching or by verbally requesting "more!".


Accept any form of anticipation and try to make eye contact with the children, modelling the word "more" before blowing the bubbles again. Try to provide specific praise for children who share joint attention with you or with each other.


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For more ideas and inspiration visit ypo.co.uk/littlelearners


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