A large part of these developmental delays are due to the social isolation from the Covid shutdown. Many children missed out of vital childhood experiences. Literacy isn’t the only thing they’re behind in. Their social skills are emaciated. They don’t know how to interact with people because they were deprived of the opportunity.
There is an effect there but this has been a problem before COVID. Anecdotal but a teacher friend has been complaining about this for years. I know all parents don’t have the time but we read a ton to our kids and helped them learn to read when they were just getting started.
That’s some of it, but there are high school kids who come in to my office and literally write like 5 year olds. I mean holding the pen like little kids do, handwriting that’s a dead ringer for my kindergarten work books, all of it. Those kids were struggling way before COVID.
In their defense, in the modern workforce there is little need for handwriting so there’s little need to teach it. You need to sign your name occasionally but other than that, handwriting is rare due to prevalence of typing.
This is true in office work but less automated professions may be closer to 50/50 still. It is true though that non-office work environments are also less likely to care about writing than reading comprehension though.
A large part of these developmental delays are due to the social isolation from the Covid shutdown. Many children missed out of vital childhood experiences. Literacy isn’t the only thing they’re behind in. Their social skills are emaciated. They don’t know how to interact with people because they were deprived of the opportunity.
There is an effect there but this has been a problem before COVID. Anecdotal but a teacher friend has been complaining about this for years. I know all parents don’t have the time but we read a ton to our kids and helped them learn to read when they were just getting started.
That’s some of it, but there are high school kids who come in to my office and literally write like 5 year olds. I mean holding the pen like little kids do, handwriting that’s a dead ringer for my kindergarten work books, all of it. Those kids were struggling way before COVID.
In their defense, in the modern workforce there is little need for handwriting so there’s little need to teach it. You need to sign your name occasionally but other than that, handwriting is rare due to prevalence of typing.
This is true in office work but less automated professions may be closer to 50/50 still. It is true though that non-office work environments are also less likely to care about writing than reading comprehension though.
My read on things is that a lot of kids are also lacking in basic computer skills like typing, since their main device is a smartphone.