Teacher’s Experience of Infants’ Language Delays and Perception of Language Rehabilitation Services Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jo, Minji; Kim, Soojin; Son, Sujin; Kim, Sunhwa; Jung, Yeojung; Yang, Yoonhee

doi:2025.30.1.1

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2025;30(1): 1-14.
Published online March 31, 2025.
doi: https://doi.org/10.12963/csd.250086

Teacher’s Experience of Infants’ Language Delays and Perception of Language Rehabilitation Services Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Department of Language Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Education, Graduate School of Education, Kwangwoon University, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding Author: Yoonhee Yang ,Tel: +82-2-940-8416, Fax: +82-2-940-5253, Email: yangyh@kw.ac.kr

Received January 5, 2025 Revised: March 11, 2025 Accepted March 13, 2025

ABSTRACT

Objectives
This study was conducted to identify the differences in language development in infants and toddlers before and after COVID-19 based on the experiences of teachers, and to find out the necessity of language rehabilitation services and the awareness of the need for remote language rehabilitation services.
Methods
A total of 125 early childhood educators who worked in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions during the COVID-19 pandemic participated in this study. A survey was conducted to assess the educators’ experiences with language delays in young children before and after COVID-19, as well as their perceptions of speech and language rehabilitation services.
Results
It was found that the in-class distancing and mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the interaction between teachers and infants or between infants. It was found that the number of teachers who reported that the number of children with language delays in their class was “four or more” increased approximately twofold. In addition, 45.6% of respondents indicated that the most needed support to address language development delays after COVID-19 was the “expansion of speech and language therapy and other treatment services,” and the educators had a positive perception of receiving remote speech and language rehabilitation services.
Conclusion
This study is significant in that it was able to identify the valuable insights into the experiences and perceptions of early childhood educators, who have been closely watching infants and toddlers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 | Language delays | Early childhood educators’ experiences | Remote language rehabilitation services