Here’s what researchers found out about pandemic learning loss

HARRISBURG, N.C. (InvestigateTV) — Schools are seeing the first wave of children born during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many teachers are reporting seeing speech and vocabulary delays in their classrooms.Researchers examining how the pandemic affected child development found that children born in 2020 are not the age group facing the biggest challenges, according to a Johns Hopkins Medicine study.First wave of pandemic-born studentsSeptember 2025 marked the first time classrooms were made up of students born in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rahisha Clay, who has taught for more than a decade at Ace Academy in Harrisburg, North Carolina, said she noticed something different with this group of students.Clay and other school officials said they saw students with speech and vocabulary delays.“Babies learn by seeing your facial expression, by hearing the sound and the tone of your voice,” said Laila Minott. “And if we were isolated, or you’re only just in your home, that lim