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[quote=Anonymous]I think your concerns are worth considering, OP. As a PP mentioned, learning to infer others' thoughts and feelings partly depends on being able to observe their facial expressions. The eyes are the most important, but there are other important cues that come from the way the mouth and cheek muscles are moving. There is some fascinating research using eye tracking to investigate relationships between how babies look at peoples' faces and their social/emotional learning. For example, babies who go on to be diagnosed with autism often have abnormal eye movement patterns when looking at faces. Their brains do not seem to be wired to pay attention to the same facial features that neurotypical people do. It stands to reason that if a baby is not able to see half of their caregivers' faces during a critical developmental period, they may end up not paying as much attention to mouth movements as an important social cue. Of course, that alone probably isn't enough to have a clinically significant effect on social/emotional learning, especially if the other kids aren't wearing masks and if you aren't wearing masks at home.

The impact on speech development is also something to think about. Speech is not as clear from behind a mask. For example, the difference between p and b or c and t might not be heard. For someone who has already developed language, this isn't a big deal because they can use context clues. But for a baby who is still learning, this could have an impact. If you send the baby to daycare, you should prioritize mask-free, face-to-face social interaction during the times you are at home. For example, read a book and sing songs while facing the baby vs. having him or her in your lap. Try to reduce background noise when hanging out at home so that the baby hears your voice clearly. I am worried about masks because my child has hearing loss and will almost certainly have a harder time understanding people. If preschool is open, I will probably try to send him for less time than I was planning so that we can spend more time at home where he can hear us better and see our lips moving. I will still be working full-time but probably from home at least some of that time if not all. This situation has made me realize I can juggle work and kids more than I thought was possible, if I really have to. [/quote]

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