A new study of British children born during the initial 2020 lockdown found higher rates of reduced executive function and very low word-structure scores at age 4 compared with children assessed before the pandemic.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Children born during the first COVID-19 lockdown showed greater difficulty with executive function by age 4 than children born before the pandemic, according to a new study examining early childhood development in the United Kingdom.
Researchers analyzed data from 205 children born between March 23 and June 23, 2020, a period that coincided with the earliest and most restrictive phase of Britain’s pandemic response. At age 4, the children underwent standardized testing in several developmental areas, including expressive and receptive language, expressive and receptive vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning and word structure.
Their results were compared with assessments from a separate group of children born and evaluated before the pandemic.
The children born during lockdown performed within expected ranges in several areas, including sentence structure, expressive vocabulary, receptive vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning. Researchers nevertheless found that a significantly larger share displayed reduced executive function, while very low word-structure scores were also more common.
Executive function refers to a group of cognitive abilities that operate as the brain’s internal management system. Those abilities help people plan, focus attention, remember instructions, control impulses and adjust their behavior or strategies when circumstances change.
These functions are primarily associated with the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Persistent executive function difficulties are often linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, aging and brain injuries, although temporary declines can also occur because of stress or insufficient sleep.
The findings add to research examining whether pandemic-era social restrictions, disrupted routines and reduced interpersonal contact affected early childhood development.
A separate study involving Scottish children found a 6.6% increase in the proportion of toddlers with at least one developmental concern during 72 weeks of social-distancing measures.
Another study reported that lockdown conditions disrupted the development of theory of mind among toddlers. That social skill allows children to understand that other people may have thoughts, knowledge, feelings or perspectives different from their own.
The latest developmental findings emerged during renewed political scrutiny of the federal government’s COVID-19 response.
Earlier this week, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times while being questioned about his role in the pandemic response.
Fauci had spent years as a relatively little-known federal health official before becoming one of the country’s most recognizable public figures during the 2020 COVID outbreak.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Friday that his office was opening a state investigation into Fauci.
“Fauci’s lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable,” Uthmeier said.
“My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It’s past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID.”
“If he lied, and it resulted in physical and economic harm to countless Americans, billions of taxpayer dollars in ‘medical expenses,’ and learning-loss for our next generation, there should be accountability,” Uthmeier continued.
He said the Florida attorney general’s office would work with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky “to get the truth.”
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