Born in Covid Year – Core Lockdown Effects (BICYCLE)

Babies born in Spring-Early Summer 2020 experienced unprecedented disruption to their first social and communicative experiences, including social isolation, use of masks, and reduced networks and wider family support.  There is evidence that some of these children are learning words more slowly, but it may be that whilst some children were more impacted by the changes during lockdown, others may have benefitted.

The BICYCLE study assesses (both online and in-person) 200 children from a range of backgrounds who were born-in-lockdown.  We are capturing the language and cognitive skills of these children at an important stage, as they reach their fourth birthdays and begin formal education.  We will be comparing these to comparison groups born before the lockdowns and after the lockdowns.  The BICYCLE study will also include in-depth interviews with a selection of caregivers from all three groups to explore their early experiences of parenting.   

Comparisons of language, cognition, and parenting experiences between these groups will deliver important new knowledge about how social isolation affects later language, cognition, and parenting experiences, revealing more about the long-term effects of lockdowns. If successful, it could inform future policy and practice in supporting this cohort, as well as considerations for future lockdowns.