TLDR
Four-year-old children born during England's first COVID-19 lockdown showed some strengths in language but had more trouble with skills like self-control and planning, which may mean they need extra help at school.
Summary
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1 Study Aim
The study set out to find out how being born during the first COVID-19 lockdown in England affected the development of four-year-old children. The researchers wanted to see if limited social contact during this time changed children's language, thinking, and movement skills compared to children born before the pandemic. Children born during the first COVID-19 lockdown were studied to see if their development was different from kids born before the pandemic.
2 Study Design
This research used an observational cross-sectional design, meaning it looked at a group of children at one point in time. The study included 205 children who were born during the first COVID-19 lockdown in England. The researchers used standard tests to measure language skills, executive function (the ability to plan and control behavior), motor skills (movement and coordination), and non-verbal reasoning (problem-solving without words). They compared the children's scores to published norms from before the pandemic and also checked how each child's abilities matched up with their own non-verbal reasoning skills. Researchers tested 205 four-year-olds born in lockdown, comparing their skills to typical scores from before the pandemic and to their own thinking abilities.
3 Findings
The study reveals that children born during the lockdown scored higher than expected in some language areas, like sentence structure and vocabulary, as well as in non-verbal reasoning. However, caregivers reported that these children had more difficulties with executive function, such as self-control and flexible thinking, compared to pre-pandemic norms. When the researchers compared each child's skills to their own non-verbal reasoning, they found that expressive language, executive function, and motor skills were lower than what would be expected based on their thinking abilities. The authors argue that these differences could make it harder for these children to succeed in school and may mean they need extra support. The research demonstrates the importance of monitoring and supporting children born during the pandemic as they start school. Children born in lockdown did well in some language and thinking tests but had more trouble with self-control and movement, which could make school harder for them.