https://americanfaith.com/mask-mandates-causing-over-350-surge-in-childhood-speech-delays/
In Illinois, children aged 2 and up are mandated to wear masks all day at school other than nap time and outdoors (although, during February in Chicago, we are not often outdoors). For daycare children this is an average of 8-10 hours per day.
Parents from 140 school districts took Governor Pritzker to court regarding these mandates. Of February 4, 2022, Judge Grischow ruled the mandates illegal, saying that masking children “in general continues to raise fair questions as to the legality of the Executive Orders in light of violations of healthy children’s substantive due process rights. Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”
Some school districts have now gone mask optional but many have not. The ruling is, of course, being appealed by Pritzker. However, none of this helps the youngest children.
Early Childhood Programs that do not reside within public school districts, such as private daycare centers or head start programs, are not included in this judges ruling. Even with this decision on the books- Illinois children ages 2 and up continue to wear masks up to 10 hours per day.
On February 9, Governor Pritzker announced his intention to end indoor mask mandates for all public spaces- except schools. This new mask rule will go into effect on February 28. Now, people can attend crowded clubs, concerts and sporting events mask free- but little children and their caregivers, will still stay masked all day long.
Masking kids may have seemed harmless back in March 2020- it may have even seemed positive and important – but in February 2022, we now have access to extensive studies on the effects of masking on young children and their caregivers.
The most predictable and obvious of these negative effects is speech development. Studies show that 2 years of masking young children has increased the number of kids needing speech services by 350%.
For the past 30 years, young children have been the focus of both my professional and personal life. I have taught thousands of preschool age children, and I can say with confidence that this study is accurate, if not under-representing.
Prior to Covid, out of a classroom of 20 children, on average, I would refer 2 for speech therapy services. Generally speaking, these referrals were for minor speech or comprehension issues.
Today I was with a group of 14 preschool aged children, and 10 of them were difficult to impossible to understand. 3 of the 10 struggled with comprehension.
Children develop language during the first five years of life. As babies they can comprehend far more language than they can speak- but simply through listening to and watching adults speak, children acquire the language of their family and culture. but when you cover the mouths of caregivers, children cannot acquire language in the natural way in which they are wired.
Children who do not acquire language during this critical period of development struggle with speaking, comprehending and reading- which means they will struggle throughout life with both communication and all other academic skills. Language is the basis of all subsequent cognitive skills as well as the basis of culture.
Covering the mouths of children and their caregivers for the majority of their waking hours is abusive. Anything that is intentionally done to children that impede a child’s natural development is abuse- plain and simple.
First of all, healthy children have never been in danger of death from Covid. From day 1, doctors, scientists and politicians have agreed That Covid, for healthy children, presents as a common cold. Statistically speaking, heathy children have a 0% chance of dying from Covid. In Illinois, in 2021, 0 children without co-morbidities died with Covid. Over 60 children died of gunshot wounds. In fact more children were shot in cook county Illinois in 2021 than dies of Covid across the nation. If we care about children,s health and safety- we should be providing helmets and Kevlar vests, not masks.
Some say children need to mask to protect the teachers- but I say that the teachers, being adults, can protect themselves- and should put the developmental needs of the children ahead of anything else. Teachers have taken on the responsibility of helping every child reach their full potential- that is the job and it needs to be the focus of education.
Second of all, there are over 150 international, peer reviewed studies proving that cloth and disposable masks are not at all effective at stopping the spread of any virus. The virus particles are smaller than holes in masks and, being airborne, they escape with every exhale. Additionally, masks do not fit snugly on the faces of young children. They serve no health purpose whatsoever.
Finally, there have also been multiple studies proving that it is very rare for children to spread this virus to their teachers. Still, with all of this research available, we have teachers who do not want to interact with students – out of fear. So much fear that, following Christmas break, Chicago Public School teachers refused to return to in person learning as a form of protest. While I am all for peaceful protest, I am not for anything that continues to harm our youngest generation.
It is time to shut down the fear and turn up the logic. Clearly masks on young children do far more harm than good. We are not preparing these children for living – we are not giving them what they need to be successful, happy adults. We are setting them up for unnecessary struggle and failure – and it is wrong. It is just wrong.
Parents- it is time to demand that young children and their teachers be unmasked. children need real live faces. Children need to see the smiles of their caregivers. children need to hear language clearly and they need to observe to lip formation that leads to proper phoneme development.
Call your children’s school administration, reach out to your district, attend your school board meetings, email your legislature, attend mandate protests and make your voice heard. The future of humanity depends on you.
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