Thread by @karenvaites

"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.

"Crucially, once lip-reading emerges in infancy, it becomes the default mode of speech processing whenever comprehension is difficult."

And lip reading remains an important factor for bilingual speech processing into adulthood"

The piece closes on an encouraging note:

There are actions parents can take to offset risk. Great!

Is our national discourse communicating this need to parents whose kids are in day care centers with masked caregivers all day?

I think not.

The reality of our warped national discourse about masking and risks to children:

It became so unsafe to talk about any possible downsides of masking that important messages / articles like this were practically nonexistent.

Instead, parents were told not to worry at all.