Exploring the impact of COVID lockdowns on children’s language and cognitive skills

A team led by Professors Nicola Botting and Lucy Henry from the Centre for Language and Communication Science Research at City, University of London (City) have launched a new project looking at the effects of COVID lockdowns on children’s talking and thinking skills.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the findings from the three-year BICYCLE (Born In Covid Year – Core Lockdown Effects) project will inform necessary support strategies for affected children and provide important insights into the long-term effects of the pandemic on early childhood development.

Fundamental first years

The first five years of life are very important for the development of children’s language and thinking skills. This is because early experiences provide a foundation for children’s later learning. Children born in England in the past few years have experienced unusual changes to their lives that were caused by COVID lockdowns.

Babies born in Spring and early Summer 2020 experienced unprecedented disruption to their first social and communicative experiences, and there is already some evidence that these children are learning words more slowly.

The study will involve assessing a large number of children born-in-lockdown now they are four years of age (both online and in person), along with a group of children the same age but born later, when lockdowns had ended (born-after-lockdown).

The research team also have a large existing questionnaire data set of children who were toddlers during the lockdown (born-before-lockdown), gathered by Dr Gonzalez-Gomez at Oxford Brookes University and colleagues from several other universities.

Impact of isolation

The research team hope that comparisons between these three groups, using fun and accessible games, as well as caregiver questionnaires, will reveal whether children born-in-lockdown have different talking and thinking skills compared to children born-after-lockdown or children born-before-lockdown. The study will also deliver new knowledge about how social isolation affects language and cognition, and about the long-term effects of the lockdowns.

In addition, the team will look at whether children from different walks of life are experiencing lockdown effects on their talking and thinking in different ways. Overall, the results will reveal whether extra support is needed for children born-in-lockdown to make sure they have the best chance to do well during their school years.

The wider family experience

The BICYCLE team are also interested in the lived experiences of parents and caregivers during the first year of their child’s life. The study will gain a greater understanding of how parenting was affected during lockdowns through a number of parent interviews. Parents and caregivers have already told the research team about some of the challenges during lockdown. For example, one father said that when his wife was in labour: "I just had to park up at the hospital and leave her." Another mother said she could "literally visualise the germs crawling on everything" and added that she had not taken her child to the park until he was two years old.

As well as the Principal Investigators (Professors Lucy Henry and Nicola Botting), the research team includes other researchers at City (Dr Becky Moss; Professor Stian Reimers; Professor Elisabeth Hill, Dr Chelo Del Rosario, Jane Flynn) as well as a wider group of expert research collaborators across five other universities (Professor Catherine Davies, University of Leeds; Dr Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomez, Oxford Brookes; Dr Alexandra Hendry, University of Oxford; Dr Michelle McGillion, University of Warwick; and Dr Laura Shapiro, Aston University).

Professor Nicola Botting said:

“We know that the first five years of life are crucial for the development of children’s talking and thinking skills, largely influenced by early experiences. In 2020 children in England faced unique challenges due to COVID lockdowns, potentially impacting these developmental areas.

“This research study aims to explore the effects of lockdowns on language and thinking skills as children reach school-entry age, comparing groups born before, during and after lockdowns. The findings will inform necessary support strategies for affected children, contributing valuable insights into the pandemic’s long-term effects on early childhood development.”

Professor Lucy Henry said:

“One of the most important effects of lockdown could have been on early social interactions between babies, parents and other adults. These interactions are very important for the development of talking and thinking, but not everyone experienced lockdown in the same way.

“It is very important that we do this research now. Otherwise, we will never know how the COVID lockdowns affected talking and thinking skills in young children. We urgently need to learn more about this area to inform our support for these children through their school years.”

Watch out for our next recruitment phase in 2025 for families of children born between July 19^th 2021 and October 19^th 2021.

You can follow us on X/Twitter or Instagram @BICYCLE_Study. Email us at BICYCLE@city.ac.uk