(The Hill) – Children born during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic are now reaching preschool and kindergarten age, prompting experts to closely monitor potential effects on their learning and development.

There’s growing unease regarding cognitive and social maturation, including challenges in sharing or adhering to directions, as varied studies and educators’ stories surface concerning 4- and 5-year-olds.

While the pandemic’s adverse impacts on older students were immediately visible, the influence on those born amid the crisis remains uncertain, highlighting the importance of educator attentiveness in the upcoming school year, according to specialists.

Recent research in Infancy analyzed data from 330 infants born between October 2016 and August 2021, revealing minimal differences in negative impacts before and after the pandemic began. The study found that negative outcomes were more closely linked to factors like maternal stress.

During the pandemic, caregiver stress increased significantly due to job losses and reduced social interactions, with effects varying by family income level.

“For children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, there’s been developmental improvement,” said Rahil Briggs, national director of Zero to Three’s HealthySteps program. “This is because caregivers spent more time at home, providing additional support, attention, family meals, and reading opportunities, which are known to be highly beneficial.”

Another study found that the lower the socioeconomic background, “the more that decrease in kindergarten readiness showed up,” she added. 

But other studies showed more differences between the youngest learners before and after COVID-19, including a higher risk for social, cognitive, communication, motor and social delays among those born during the height of the pandemic. 

A study released in 2024 that examined a cohort of 3.5- to 5.5-year-olds found after the pandemic this age group tested “significantly worse on several measures of false-belief understanding.”

“So for things to be affecting the kids now, it really has to be something that made a fundamental shift in their development those first couple of years and that can happen. We do know that the first three years of life are super important. What we haven’t had is something that hits us over the head yet beyond anecdotal,” said Koraly Pérez-Edgar, a professor of psychology at the Pennsylvania State University. 

Pérez-Edgar cited a New York Times story from July 2024 that indicated “the kids going into kindergarten last year were really messed up, or, like, really had a lot of trouble.” But she said such behavior hasn’t been borne out in studies yet. 

“It’s not showing up in the data quite as strongly or quite as forcefully as some of the anecdotal reports say,” adding the concerns experts are worried about likely won’t emerge or be discovered until they are in school. 

Older kids had immediate effects that were easy to see when the pandemic closed schools in 2020 and created restrictions in classrooms in 2021.  

Behavioral problems in classrooms, chronic absenteeism and anxiety went up, while academic performance went down in older students, with some of those effects still lingering today. 

But infants had time to live in a world without masks and restrictions for years before heading to kindergarten.

“So, the pandemic was 2020, five years ago, and things really the last three years, they would have had the opportunity to have a pretty normal socialization for most kids,” said Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a psychologist and podcast host of “Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic.” “So, I don’t think we have to assume that because of COVID these kids are warped. I think we deal with the child in front of us.” 

Experts and advocates caution vigilance and advise planning for a situation where these children begin to struggle in school, such as smaller class sizes and collaboration with families.  

“We think a lower group size or maybe additional adult support in the classroom, like a teacher’s aide, could be helpful for kindergarten programs. I do think significant family engagement is going to be really helpful to support these young children and families,” said Ginger Sandweg, senior director early learning at First Things First.

But experts also note it is important to recognize children are able to bounce back from adversity well, even if some struggles occurred after the pandemic with socialization.

“I think if schools are aware of these particular areas, they can do more programming in terms of teaching kids like asserting yourself and talking, having conversations,” said Mary Alvord, psychologist and founder of Alvord, Baker & Associates.

“But my area is resilience, and I just feel like we also need to acknowledge the resilience of most kids,” she added.