The longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's speech and language development: A reflexive thematic analysis of teacher perspectives

The social restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic affected the learning opportunities of children worldwide. The majority of children aged 0–4 years during that time could not attend preschool settings, including nurseries, childminders and social groups, which are important sources of social interaction necessary for language development. Studies have shown that this negatively affected the early language skills of babies born at the beginning of the pandemic. The longer-term consequences of the pandemic on children's speech and language skills are not yet well understood. In the current study, we explored teachers’ experiences of the speech and language skills of children born during the pandemic who are now beginning their school journeys. Purposive sampling recruited nine female teachers with an average of 15 years’ experience working with children in Early Years, who would have been infants aged between 1 and 2 years at the start of the pandemic, and in Reception (age 4–5 years) and Year 1 (age 5–6 years) at the time of data collection. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews (which took place nearly 3 years after schools reopened after the pandemic) and analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Findings suggest that teachers perceive that the social restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a significant increase in the number of children experiencing speech and language difficulties. Teachers also highlighted the need for short- and longer-term educational adaptations to address pandemic-related disruptions in young children's speech and language development.