Local mother speaks out about child speech delays due to masks
By Spencer Thomas
Click here for updates on this story
PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Oregon’s mask mandate is set to lift by the end of March, but some parents say the damage has already been done when it comes to social, emotional, behavioral and speech delays.
FOX 12 spoke with Abigail Eckhart, a mother of three in Salem with a son who is slightly on the spectrum and has global delay and speech disorder.
Eckhart says, “He can’t really explain, you know, his struggles, his frustrations, he really struggles to communicate. And part of that is emotional, like he needs to see people’s facial expressions to really understand and masks make it difficult.”
Eckhart says that she fought hard with the Salem-Keizer School District for her son to switch from a mask, to a face shield to help with his learning. Little did she know the real decline would come from all her sons peers wearing facial protection too.
“Our biggest concern with him being surrounded by people wearing masks had little bit to do with his hearing loss. My concern is that he’s hearing muffled tones, and so he’s heard it muffled for so long, up until he had his tubal surgery, but now he’s in a school where he’s actually learning but now with the masks, he’s learning in a muffled environment once again,” says Eckhart.
Eckhart’s son social, emotional, behavioral, and speech has been affected. Something that Dr. Anna Waters, a speech therapist in Portland stands by.
“I think it’s really complicated. It’s much more complicated than you might think because it isn’t just about speech and language development, as well as connection with that facial expression with your teachers and your speech therapist at school. It’s also about this hyper compliant environment that masking kind of has created and the disadvantages that some children have because of anxiety or sensory issues,” says Waters.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
