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Karen Vaites Profile picture
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Mar 5 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I would like to know if the people who are fearful of their kids’ risk from COVID have stopped taking them in cars and buses.
We did a horrible job helping parents to understand the real risks from COVID if we still have a segment of parents who are fearful.
All of these people are replying to this post to talk about mitigations.

This post isn’t about mitigations at all.

It’s about the fact that a segment of Americans still has fear of risks about kids… and I am SURE that they don’t bring corresponding anxiety to car rides.
Anxiety has a physical toll. Mental health is health.

Can’t we agree that the fear needs to be nipped in the but, in parallel with efforts to increase vaccination of at-risk Americans?

For the wellness of adults and their children?
Whew the replies have been… something. Truly something.

I guess this is the “You can’t tweet a chart without half of Twitter projecting something you didn’t even begin to say about <vaccines/auto fatalities/youth water safety> onto the tweet” stage of the pandemic.

Wild.

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More from @karenvaites

Karen Vaites Profile picture
Mar 6
"We discovered that babies begin lip-reading at around 8 months of age. Crucially, the onset of lip-reading at this age corresponds w the onset of canonical babbling, suggesting that babies begin lip-reading BC they become interested in speech & language."
scientificamerican.com/article/masks-…
Yes, I know that no one has proved that infant development has been harmed by masked caregivers in their midst.

(No one has proved infants/toddlers are A-OK, either.)

But can you read this piece w/o any concern?
"Bilingual babies rely more on visual speech cues to help them keep their two languages apart."

Language learners are more vulnerable to potential impacts from masking. Image
Read 6 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Feb 22
"ASHA has reached out to CDC, expressing its concern about inconsistencies and urging the agency to utilize the expertise of SLPs when making changes to developmental milestones."

Important statement by @ASHAWeb RE latest CDC updates:

facebook.com/asha.org/posts…

cc: @AmerAcadPeds
👉 "the milestones presented to parents must be evidence-based"

Tell me you are calling out the @CDCgov @AmerAcadPeds without telling me you are calling out...
This thread has background on the issue.

It's long and it meandered a bit; some of the more important info is towards the end. Thanks to everyone who stayed with it and raised awareness of this troubling CDC milestone change.

Read 4 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Feb 19
A worrisome sign that #MedTwitter is broken:

In the Before Times, I bet you could get doctors like Freedman and the many health professionals reposting his thread to agree that this CDC change is bad. Poorly-executed, at minimum.

Now? Folks can only talk Mask Wars.
Let’s say that docs like @amychomd (who reposted it) believe the thread.

Can we not agree that this is crummy, anti-child communication by the CDC?

If the CDC is trying to emphasize the at-risk milestone, website changes like this are NOT getting it done.
What’s more, speech experts DO encourage Early Intervention at age 2 for severe speech delays, and I saw how EI changed my daughter’s life.

Most state EI programs end at age 3. Are we really all ready to cheer the CDC for elevating the 30 month milestone?

It feels anti-child.
Read 7 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Feb 19
Yesterday, I held off talking about the CDC speech guidance change BC I noticed a thing when I was searching Twitter for more info.

👀
There are more than the 7 shown here.

Search this phrase in Twitter, you’ll see:

The CDC just quietly lowered the standards for speech in early childhood development.

Now children should know ~50 words at 30mo rather than 24mo.
Generally, I try to do my homework and only tweet after reading articles, or when I have evidence for thing I am claiming.

I felt like it was a little odd that I didn’t hear back with much of substance when I asked for more info… that was Hmmm number one.
Read 5 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Feb 19
I've been digging into claims that @CDCgov recently lowered its bar for children's speech development.

CDC did change milestones. Today, it's out of line with @ASHAWeb & NY State.

Importantly, these other orgs haven't changed any guidance during the pandemic.

Let's unpack.
Now, I'm not a speech pathologist, nor do I play one on Twitter. But literacy advocates & Speech & Language Pathologists share common advocacy terrain, so I Know People.

I had many conversations today with SLP friends. The universal refrain:

@ASHAWeb is the Gold Standard.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (@ASHAWeb) is clear that "saying fewer than 50 words" when a child is two years old is a sign of a "language problem."

See:
asha.org/public/early-i… Image
Read 34 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Feb 18
This is a really important piece by @natwexler.

First and foremost, it's the only reporting I've seen on a major achievement by @TNedu:

Almost all Tennessee districts now use high-quality curriculum! That's HUGE.

forbes.com/sites/nataliew…
Increasing use of high-quality curriculum is a longtime goal of many states. In fact, 13 states participate in @CCSSO's High-Quality Instructional Materials and Professional Development (IMPD) network, squarely focused on this goal.

TN is one of the 13...
learning.ccsso.org/high-quality-i…
And so far, it's the biggest success story, given this traction.

In 2019-20, I had a chance to visit six of the pioneers in this work with the #KnowledgeMatters School Tour, and the local leadership was abundant.

Here was one thread – it's long, but...+
Read 8 tweets

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