Children have been harmed by the covid pandemic

I was just sent this article from the Guardian which compels me to put pen to paper, as it were, before i have finished my coffee. The findings are troubling, while the source of the findings heat my blood to the point of ebullition. IQ is a dangerous term and the concept should have been discarded in 1904. 

The troubling findings were predicted and so it is good to have empirical data to support the hypotheses. Young children, or very young childrne in this case, are as a group developmentally behind their peers of years past in "verbal, motor and overall cognitive performance". The study's author blames two things : (a) limited stimulation at home, likely due to parents working from home and so interacting with them less and providing fewer developmental opportunities, and (b) less interaction with the world outside, ie from just being outside but also from attending play groups and early childhood programs.

We know from literally zillions of studies that young and very young children learn and develop from external stimuli. The pandemic has reduced these inputs, ipso facto it has reduced every development resulting from them.

My suspicion based on experience and professional knowledge is that this can be reversed, unless the deprivation continues. I remember a study, although I cannot find it right now, that students can recover from one lost year of schooling but not from two and I suspect that this will apply here too.

What drives me to the edge is the "IQ" comment. Firstly, IQ suggests a permanent, observable and measurable quantity and this is not true. However you define "intelligence", your definition will accept that it changes with the instrument and that it changes over time. Stating that the pandemic has affected or delayed development is valid; stating that it has affected "IQ" is not.

Secondly, "IQ" has pretty generally been debunked for two reasons. Defining intelligence is at best complex. Measuring intelligence is at best illusory. I'm pretty sure that every definition of intelligence I have seen in my 40 years at the chalkface has been followed shortly after with challenges and refutations. The same has been true of every test.

Children develop at different rates and reach developmental mileposts at different time. As an example, we could find through research that 

• 50% of US children can count 1 though 100 accurately without pause by 36 months
• 42% by 32 months
• 62% by 42 months 

The same research finds that 65% of Oregon children 

• 65% of Oregon children can count 1 though 100 accurately without pause by 36 months
• 42% by 32 months
• 82% by 42 months 

and 

• 35% of Florida children can count 1 though 100 accurately without pause by 36 months
• 12% by 32 months
• 42% by 42 months 

So does this mean Oregon children are more intelligent than the US in general and nearly twice as bright as Floridians? Or does it reflect the 90% pre-school attendance in Oregon versus the 20% in Florida? Or that children in Oregon practice counting while those in Florida go straight to pre-algebra and use calculators for baisc numnber work?

Such a comparison may have validity as one of many indicators when comparing programs or assessing staffing and funding. It has nothing to do with a child's smarts.

I think we should be very concerned about the effect on children due to the pandemic and about any developmental delays. I think we should ignore anything labeled "intelligence" and "IQ". The former is educationally sound, the latter at best misleading and as history shows, potentially dangerous.

**Please leave your comments and questions below**

Further reading

Children born during the pandemic have lower IQ, US study finds

The first "real" IQ test 

The IQ wars; why screening for intelligence is still so controversial

The perils of giving kids IQ tests