Communication During Quarantine - Changes in Language Exposure for 8 to 36-month-olds in Singapore

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

Background. During the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been spending unprecedented amounts of time at home with their immediate family members, under conditions that differ from their usual routines. We predicted that the unusual social circumstances would bring about changes in a variety of language behaviours for infants and toddlers, including screen time, and opportunities for communicating with different people, and asked parents to provide subjective estimates of impact using a novel survey.
COVID-19 Timeline in Singapore. Singapore detected a small number of cases of COVID-19 in January 2020. Singapore’s response included travel restrictions and public hygiene campaigns (Feb, 2020), safe-distancing measures (March, 2020), limits to the size of public gatherings (April, 2020), and adaptations to work-from-home where possible (April, 2020). As cases continued to increase, Singapore instituted a national lockdown known as ‘Circuit Breaker’ (7 April, 2020): non-essential workers were required to stay in their homes except for essential trips, schools and childcares were closed, home visits were prohibited, and masks were mandated outside the home. After case numbers declined, the response moved into staged easing of restrictions known as ‘Phase 1’ (2 June 2020) and ‘Phase 2’ (19 June 2020). During these periods, infant and toddler care began to reopen, and small-group home visits were permitted, as well as gatherings outdoors.
Methods. As part of a larger study for Singaporean children under the age of three, we created a short survey called ‘Covid Talks’ to find out about parental perceptions of the way COVID-19 has impacted infants’ and toddlers’ communication opportunities. The survey asked parents about their pre-Covid work routines, Covid-related changes to their time in the home and work hours, their child’s care structures, and people living in the home. Since many workers in Singapore shifted to work-from-home, we also asked parents for their subjective experiences of communicating with their child while working from home, and for their impressions of how language experiences differed during different phases of Singapore’s response.
Results. To date, The COVID-Talks survey has been taken by 156 parents who reported help with childcare in the home (domestic helpers: 44%; respondent’s parents: 24%; in-laws: 18%) or out of the home (40%). Figure 1 shows parents’ subjective experience of combining parenting with working from home (N=117). Figure 2 shows perceived impacts of COVID-19 on language use at home with their children (N=156). These interim findings show that full lockdown had the largest impacts: parents reported subjective decreases in infants’ and toddlers’ face-to-face communications, and same-aged peer communications, together with an increase in onscreen communications with adults, and overhearing adult voices (e.g., in conference calls). While reduction in face-to-face and peer interactions may be expected to negatively impact children's developing language skills, the increase in online and overheard adult speech may provide alternative linguistic samples for learning. Data collection will conclude following a preregistered stop date by February 2021. After this, sociodemographic data will be linked with survey results to allow more nuanced understanding of responses across groups with different language and SES characteristics.

Authors

• Suzy J Styles, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  Presenting Author

• Fei Ting Woon, Nanyang Technological University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eshwaaree C Yogarrajah, Nanyang Technological University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shamala Sundaray, Nanyang Technological University
  Non-Presenting Author