Oh wow. I鈥檓 teaching a class for grad students on second language acquisition this semester, and we start with a unit on first language teaching and learning. We only do a pretty basic intro to the topic since it鈥檚 a huge topic of course, and we need to get into the second language stuff quickly. But we were just talking about the critical period and impacts on language development when children don鈥檛 have normal contact and exposure to language as babies. Heretofore, research documentation of that kind of lack of exposure that primarily been in situations of abuse. So it鈥檚 kind of heartbreaking to read about something similar happening not in the context of abuse but because of pandemic lockdown.
I wonder what details in the US were different and what studies are being done in the U.S. now.
Somehow I鈥檓 remembering that US lockdowns weren鈥檛 as long or as strict, but is that accurate?