Will the wearing of the compulsory mask for adults in nurseries have a long-term impact on the socialization and language learning of the youngest?

Early childhood professionals are trying to adapt to the health protocol in the field, while specialists worry about the long-term consequences. 

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Since the onset of the Covid-19 epidemic, the French have become accustomed to wearing a mask to limit the transmission of the virus in many situations.

But the impact on the youngest, especially infants and young children, worries early childhood professionals, masked during their working days, and certain specialists.

"It is true that nursery staff are starting to observe effects: it is starting to last a little too long and we are asking questions", confides Isabelle Filliozat, psychotherapist and early childhood specialist, on Europe 1.

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"There are beginning to be studies, because we observe that children laugh less and have some developmental delays," adds the specialist, qualifying her remarks: "We must not panic either. Look at the face and have interactions with an adult is part of what is necessary for the harmonious development of the child. But when we cannot, when it is complicated, what is delayed can be resumed later. "

It is nonetheless necessary to measure the reality of these effects, assures Isabelle Filliozat.  

Dreaded language and emotional learning disorders

And the findings are already there.

A recent study, carried out among 600 early childhood professionals, warns of the consequences of wearing a mask for language learning, especially in children aged 18 months.

An alert shared by the child psychiatrist Gilles-Marie Valet.

"The child needs to understand and see that the words come out from the lips and not actually from anywhere," he explains.

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"Interactions are absolutely necessary for the construction of the architecture of the brain and it is in the interaction that the child grows and flourishes", adds Isabelle Filliozat, recalling that these conclusions are not yet certain and would concern more children who spend ten hours a day in the nursery, with masked staff. 

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In addition to language, the mask could also interfere with the development of empathy and the learning of emotions in the youngest who respond to facial expressions and smiles by observing the faces of adults around them.

"It is clear that if there are too many hours a day during which toddlers are exposed to a masked person, there will be a deficit," says the specialist.

"What we do not yet know is how we are going to be able to recover this deficit. But we have to take it into account."

In the field, professionals adapt

In the field, early childhood professionals have adapted.

Sandra, a nursery assistant, is surrounded by children aged 9 to 18 months.

They have just woken up from a nap and are asking for hugs.

For this activity, the mask of the young woman does not bother them in the least, but for everything else, the staff had to change their methods, overdoing it a lot.

"We articulate a lot more when we speak, we use non-verbal signs such as eyes and hands a lot more. For nursery rhymes, we have to sing a little louder," she says.

"And when there's a rule to say, I still stay a little over a minute with my eyes frozen to really show them that I'm not kidding."

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Take off the mask to change a diaper, when the person is alone with the child, the nursery staff have thought about it.

But today, it is not allowed in current health protocols.

The Norwegian model?

One of the solutions demanded by professionals: to be able to equip oneself with transparent masks.

The state has distributed 500,000, but they are considered too complex to use, because they especially fill with steam.

For Isabelle Filliozat, these tools do not solve everything.

"There are many other things than just the image," she says.

"The transparent mask is better than a mask that hides everything, but it's still not the direct relationship."

In Norway, the whole way of working with the youngest has been revised to limit the wearing of masks. More employees were mobilized: an adult for a group of four children, always the same, in order to get as close as possible to the family module, "in which we do not wear a mask", specifies the specialist who deciphers this model. And adults do not eat among themselves to avoid contamination. A system that limits risks while maintaining a more natural relationship with the child.