According to speech therapist Nathalie Gual Hancali, the mask, which has been compulsory for children from the age of 6 in school since the end of 2020, adds obstacles to student learning.
Does the mask reduce children’s ability to concentrate?
NATHALIE GUAL HANCALI. Obviously ! We realized that we lost 12 points of intelligibility when we wore one, that is to say that our ability to understand what is said is reduced. But children are still learning. At school, they approach notions that they do not know, so they do not have the possibility of predicting what is going to be said. The mask leads to an effort of concentration and, by force, significant attention dropouts from kindergarten to high school.
Can it cause language learning disorders in the youngest?
We cannot say that the mask is the direct cause. But it rocks already fragile children. Before its introduction, we saw in our offices children aged 2-3 who did not speak. This sometimes happens and we know that once they start school, they progress in a few months. This is no longer the case today. Same problem in nursery: an English study shows that babies born during confinement have a significant communication delay. Finally, children who have difficulties in phonology, for example between the words “poison” and “fleece”, cling to lip reading. Without this visual aid, they can no longer recognize certain sounds.
However, the teachers compensate by speaking louder…
Yes, but that too has consequences. This is called the Lombard effect: by increasing the volume of your voice, you tend to accentuate the vowels and less the consonants, which modifies the identification of the word.
VIDEO. Mask at school from 6 years old: “It’s too stylish, but it hurts the head”
Does the mask also have physical repercussions?
Children tend to keep their mouth open to breathe, the tongue does not play its role of expanding the palate. Some will therefore have postural, chewing and sleeping problems.
Are our children therefore all doomed to live with these difficulties?
No, some of these effects are reversible. For the most fragile, the impact on phonology will be definitive. The mask has consequences, we see it, we must not deny it.