No, I do not believe that the administrative plans discussed in my previous blog posts will correct the learning losses caused by COVID or the losses that existed before COVID.  The schools need a new approach.  I believe that hands-on teaching techniques might be one answer.
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What Are Schools Saying about Pandemic Learning Losses, and What Is Being Done to Help? 
______________

Students anticipate success or failure based on their past experiences.  Students who have failed in the classroom often consider themselves failures.  Perceived inferiority reduces a child’s ability to learn.  If we return from COVID with the same methods that the child failed with (phonics, whole-language, or balanced literacy) before COVID, the child will, most likely, continue to fail.  We need a completely new way to teach reading. 
 
At my reading clinic, a simple craft project becomes a hands-on way of teaching decoding and encoding skills, an initiator for intrinsic motivation, and the means to provide step-by-step directions which help to increase comprehension.  The program uses creative art projects that are tied into the learning process and skills being taught. That helps children to set aside their fear and reluctance and try again.  The craft projects are not mere craft projects for the sake of completing a craft.  At the reading clinic, the hands-on project does not go home until the learning exercise is also completed.  The hands-on craft projects become a teaching tool. 
 
Yes, we have seen success with hands-on learning techniques:

• A student who failed for nine straight years in public school is now reading.
• A student diagnosed with ADHD and failing in reading moved up two grade levels in one year.
• A student diagnosed with dyslexia and whose parents tried everything, including expensive private one-on-one systematic phonics tutoring, learned to read, and moved up to beginning chapter books in one year.
• Six children who entered the program reading at the (pre-K) level ended the year reading at the 2nd grade reading level.  Only one child in the group was a first grader.
• One student started at the pre-K level and ended the year reading at the third-grade level, while a second grader started the year reading below first grade and ended at the fourth-grade level.  This improvement was just from September to May.
• One year, a student moved up four grade levels in reading, 4 students moved up three grade levels in reading, and 8 students moved up two grade levels in reading. 
• Another year, two students moved up four grade levels in reading, 3 students moved up 3 grade levels in reading, and 6 students moved up two grade levels in reading. 

 
So, yes, we can teach failing students to read.  If we use the correct teaching methods, we can correct all reading failure—before and after COVID.

Links to earlier posts in this series about recovering pandemic learning losses 

How Can We Overcome the Education Losses Children Have Experienced from the Pandemic? (Part 1) 

What Are Schools Saying about Pandemic Learning Losses, and What Is Being Done to Help? (Part 2)

Are The Schools Creating A Positive Learning Environment That Will Help Students Correct Learning Losses?  (Part 3) 

A Hands-on Project Helps Create a Positive Learning Environment to Help Students Correct Learning Losses (Part 4 of a Series)​

Let’s look at a simple project that children can make, and see how it helps the student learn the day’s lesson.

For several weeks now, I have been showing pictures of pop-up houses, some simple, some more complex.  Now, I want to show how to take that simple pop-up house and use it to teach.
  
Let's get started! Begin with a simple pattern that even 5-year-olds can trace and cut out. 

Instructions For Making A Simple Pop-Up House:
  
Remember to Read the Directions carefully—all of the directions.

1. First, select construction paper that you want to use for your pop-up house.  Fold the paper in half as if you are making a book.  Trace the pattern.  The pattern must be on the fold of the paper.  Trace and cut out your house.  Be sure to cut notch at corner/fold.  Lay pattern on your house and fold bottom flap as shown on pattern. 

 
Read this to the child. "Decorate your house using markers, crayons, or scraps of paper.  Do not decorate below fold line (see pattern) because that is where you will glue your house to the paper.  Slow down; take the time to make your house look very special.  Sometimes it can be frustrating to work on a project very slowly, trying to do your best work, but in the end, it is best when we put extra effort into every job we do.  Be creative and do your very best.  Use only a glue stick for glue."  

Decorating a house can be very simple or very elaborate. Here are two examples made from this pattern: 

Second, fold a second sheet of construction paper (green is best, to look like grass) in half as if you’re making a book. 
 
Third, place glue only on the folded flap of your house.  Use a glue stick--no liquid glue. 
 
Fourth, line up the center fold of your house with the center fold of your open sheet of green
construction paper.  Open house into a V shape and glue down the flaps onto the green construction paper.  Open and close green construction paper once to make sure that the house pops up.  Then, set aside to dry.
 
Teaching tips:

• Place glue only on the folded flap of your house.  Use a glue stick--no liquid glue. 
• Line up the center fold of your house with the center fold of your open sheet of green paper. 
• If you are teaching older students, have them use their ruler and protractor to make their own pattern.  Now, you have combined reading and math into one lesson.
• Even many special needs students can do this project.  Make your pattern out of carboard.  Hold the pattern in place and encourage the student to trace around the pattern. 
• If you are teaching on-line, this is a perfect project.  I used it with a 3rd grade student, but you can also use it with first graders.  You just give the instructions orally with young children.  I’ve also used this exact pattern with 5- and 6-year-olds in a class.  For example, say:  “Has everyone folded your paper?  Hold the paper up and show me the folded edge of the paper, where is the fold?  Excellent.  Lay your paper on your desk and place your pattern on that fold.”

 
This simple hands-on project becomes a teaching tool and is also a motivational tool to encourage students to want to learn.  The house is not simply an arts and craft project.  It is a teaching technique placed within a supportive group-centered prevention program that focuses on both teaching and counseling.  I want to undo the harms of reading failure.   I want to encourage children to try again and believe that they can learn to read.  
________________

Reading Failure is a Mental Health Problem
________________
 

What Have We Taught With This Hands-On Project?

One of the best ways to help children practice comprehension is by following step-by-step directions to make a project.  The children must read, understand what they read, and then apply such comprehension in order to complete the project. 
 
________________

For more about comprehension, read:  Reading Comprehension
________________

If you are teaching on-line, for older students, you could have your students research colonial homes, then write a paragraph or essay comparing and contrasting colonial homes with the house they live in today. 
________________
 
One web site that I like is:  Colonial Homes for Kids
________________  

So, be creative with either in-class or on-line instruction, you can bring your lesson to life with a simple hands-on project.  The house is not just an arts and craft project, it becomes a teaching tool that motivates your students to want to do more.  Yes, we really can change how we teach and help every student overcome their learning losses, whatever they may be.


And look at what you've taught with this simple hands-on project:

1. Comprehension—Regardless of whether you had the students read and follow the written directions or if you read the directions to the student, you were teaching comprehension, following directions, listening skills, and completion.
2. If you had your students write a story, you were also teaching composition and story writing.  If you had your older students research a topic, you were also teaching research and writing nonfiction paragraphs.  You can turn the pop-up house into a book and have each student write their own story or essay.  There are hundreds of ways to use this hands-on project.
3. Even if you are teaching first graders, you can use this simple house to teach letter sounds.  I use a game called Build-by-Sound.  The child keeps the vowel sound the same.  For example, use the short a sound.  Then, build words:  at, bat, cat, rat…ran, fan, man, …cap, lap, sap.  Keep the vowel sound the same but change the consonants. 
4. For older children, you can add consonant blends:  trap, black, stack….  Depending on the age of your students, you can even have two or three syllable words with one common vowel sound.  Never mix vowel sounds.  The idea is to train the brain to hear the common vowel sound in each word:  apple, happy, cattle, acrobat, astronaut. 
   Then, of course, have your student write the words correctly on manuscript writing paper and glue them to their house to practice later.  Again, use only glue sticks on pop-up houses.
   
   

​If you teach a child to read, you can change the world.

How can I create a hands-on learning environment in the classroom?
 
A teacher recently asked me, “How am I supposed to set up a hands-on learning environment in a classroom with 26 students who read at different levels and have widely differing skill sets?  I've read where you talk about creating a hands-on learning environment at your reading clinic.  That's great, but I can't set up an entire reading clinic in my classroom.  I have other subjects to teach besides just reading.”
 
Yes, it is true, with my Camp Sharigan week-long program, I create an imaginary summer camp that fills the entire room—wall hangings, mountains, fishing ponds, a paper poison ivy vine, and even a snake pit with fuzzy snakes.  

​Yet, my Reading Orienteering Club after-school program uses portable learning workstations because I must be able to set up and take down the after-school program each day—others use the room.  Research shows that both programs are successful.  So, yes, you can create a hands-on learning environment even in a classroom with desks or tables and chairs.
 
And yes, at my reading clinic, students have moved up as much as four grade levels in reading in one year—our program is actually only eight months long, September to May.  I use hands-on learning and creative-art therapy with group-centered prevention to help students replace failure with success.

As the pandemic rages on, parents understandably worry about what effect it is having on their children’s education and mental state. Not only are those important issues, but we also need to understand how school administrators think about the pandemic. What people care about the most, however, is what can we do to help solve the problems?

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Read Part 1: How Can We Overcome Pandemic Learning Problems?
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Are the Schools Approaching the Problem Correctly?
There are almost as many answers to that question as there are people.  Everyone has an opinion.  Let’s be careful not to let “mere opinions” mislead us.  Yes, there is as much misinformation plaguing education as there are “alternative facts” floating between the political candidates.
 
This is the second part of my look at educational loss during the pandemic. In Part 1, we looked at what parents, teachers, and students are saying about educational losses from COVID.  Now, let’s ask, what are the schools saying?  What are the administrators saying?  What do they plan to do?  What should they be doing?
 
We need to remember that the classroom teacher does not always control what is actually taught in the classroom.  In many schools, teachers are told what they can and cannot teach.  They are also told how to teach.  Textbooks and teaching methods are even decided for the teacher.  Such a policy has both benefits and dangers.  Therefore, it is necessary to look at what administrators, school boards, and state education agencies are saying about educational loss during the pandemic.
 
 
What Are School Administrators Saying about Pandemic Learning Loss?
 
Just to list a few points:

• Some are saying that learning losses from the pandemic are irreversible.  Wrong.

 

• One report said that students were two or more grade levels behind because of the pandemic.  I have been working with students for years who were three, four, even nine grade levels behind in reading—all before the pandemic.  Learning loss in education is not new.

 

• One study, conducted by a testing company (be careful when reading test scores from commercial companies who, at the end of their report, offer to sell you testing services) found from their research that in reading an “… increase from 27% well below benchmark in 2019 to 40% in 2020 is nearly a 50% increase in the number of students entering that grade at risk.”  Their findings were mostly with kindergarten and first graders. 

I do not doubt that kindergarten and first graders have suffered in reading development during the pandemic.  As for the 50% increase, I have little confidence in their data.  If you read the study carefully, you’ll notice that their study population is biased.  Yet, the problem remains.  We need to help all children learn to read.

• One educator stated that he thought today’s learning losses would still be around in 2060.  They shouldn’t be.  There is no reason that we cannot reverse any and all learning loss from the pandemic.

 

• Still others say that students who attended online classes lost “comprehension, focus, and engagement.”  It all depends on how the school used online classes.  Just being online shouldn’t necessarily reduce comprehension, focus, or engagement.  I actually worked with a student who improved over the pandemic through online classes over what the student had been doing with in-class instruction before the pandemic.

 

• Many are saying that stress, anxiety, and depression have increased, and such has affected student learning.  This I agree with.  The pandemic has increased stress and anxiety for all of us.  Research shows that depression has also increased.  Yet, this doesn’t necessarily lead to learning loss. 

What Does a Student Stay? 
 
As one high school student said,

“I definitely struggled during the spring of 2020—which I’m sure goes for a lot of other kids. I think I was so overwhelmed by the surrealism of the entire situation that it didn’t even feel like my schoolwork was important; everything felt like a dream. Since then, I have definitely become better adjusted to online schooling—and I do think that if the pandemic had not happened I would be short of a lot of significant knowledge I gained this year. I have certainly become more active and interested in current events, but I have also grown as a person, and although living through COVID has been really hard at times, I am so incredibly lucky to say that I probably gained more than I lost during these times.”
 
So, yes, some students have suffered psychologically during the pandemic, but still others say that they experienced personal growth and development during the pandemic as they learned to cope with difficult situations.  Again, we find ourselves talking about psychological harm.  Let’s refresh our definition of psychological harm.

 
Psychological Effects of the Pandemic

When we say that something causes psychological harm, this means that it impairs a person’s mental development and well-being. For example, rude, hateful words can cause psychological harm. Bullying can cause psychological harm. Teasing can cause psychological harm. Mass school shootings can cause psychological harm.  Reading failure can cause psychological harm.  That's why I became involved as a psychologist in developing programs to help children overcome reading failure.  My goal is to stop the psychological harm caused by reading failure. 
 
No, masks, vaccines, or testing do not cause psychological harm.  It is fear and not being able to control the source of the fear that causes psychological harm.
 
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For more on psychological harms, read:  Do Mask Mandates Cause Psychological or Medical Problems for Children in School?

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Every single child and every single adult has been impacted by the pandemic, and yes, we definitely need to treat the psychological effects of the pandemic.  As a psychologist, I am very concerned about the psychological harms caused by the pandemic, especially the increased suicide rate.  The Pew Charitable Trust explains that:

“According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts among adolescents jumped 31% in 2020, compared with 2019. In February and March of this year, emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher among girls aged 12–17 than during the same period in 2019.”

And the Pew article continues:
​
“… more than 140,000 children in the United States lost a primary and/or secondary caregiver, with youth of color disproportionately impacted.”
 
We need to look more deeply to see what is causing this increase in suicidal behavior.  We’ll explore this in a later discussion.
 
Stress and anxiety do not always cause learning loss.  After all, we also know that bullying and the fear of gun violence in schools increases stress, anxiety, and yes, increases depression.  Should we then say that the threat of gun violence also causes learning loss? 
 
 
Can we get an accurate measure on learning loss experienced by students?
  
Let's look at a study that gives a fairly objective overview of the problems students have experienced during the pandemic.  An article entitled, The Effect of COVID-19 on Education by Jacob Hoofman and Dr. Elizabeth Secord, Department of Pediatrics, from Wayne State University School of Medicine summarize both the educational and mental health issues facing the schools.
 
 “Learners and educators at all levels of education have been affected by COVID-19.  ...racial minorities, those who live in poverty, those requiring special education, and children who speak English as a second language are more negatively affected by the need for remote learning.  Anxiety and depression have increased….”
 
That statement gives us a good summary of the problems that we are looking at in education.  Hoofman and Secord go one step further as they cite a study from Stanford.
 
“Northwest Evaluation Association is a global nonprofit organization that provides research-based assessments and professional development for educators. A team of researchers at Stanford University evaluated Northwest Evaluation Association test scores for students in 17 states and the District of Columbia in the Fall of 2020 and estimated that the average student had lost one-third of a year to a full year's worth of learning in reading, and about three-quarters of a year to more than 1 year in math since schools closed in March 2020.”
 
Once again, I advise caution for the results.  The Northwest Evaluation only looked at assessments from 17 states—not even half of the country.  Also, Stanford was looking at averages and speculating.  Until the Nation’s Report Card gives us an actual test score comparison, the amount of leaning loss experienced by students is basically speculation.  One research firm or university may be better than the other, but we are still speculating.
 
So, yes, there has been learning loss—more with some students, less with others.  The truth is that we entered into the pandemic with a learning loss in reading.  According to the Nation’s Report Card, over 60% of students across the nation could not read at grade level in 4th, 8th, and 12th grade in 2019 before COVID began.  This 60% score is based on actual test data, not speculation.

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For more on the Nation’s Report Card score, read:  Reading Wars are Over!  Phonics Failed.  Whole Language Failed.  Balanced Literacy Failed. Who Won?  It Certainly Wasn’t the Students.
 
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Testing is important, but it must be accurate and unbiased.  In my own reading clinic, we have moved students up in reading who were two years behind grade level, four years behind, and even nine years behind their grade level.  Regardless of their age or how many years they have failed in reading, students can be brought up to their age-appropriate level in reading.  All we need to do is change how we teach reading in the schools and start teaching reading correctly.  
 
For more on the actual data from my reading clinic, read Chapter 10 in After-School Programming and Intrinsic Motivation.
 
Let’s look at some solutions.  I primarily look at the solutions being proposed in reading because these are the students I work with.  That is also my area of expertise.  This is not to say that we do not have learning loss in math, science, social studies, and other curriculum areas.  Since my research is in preventing reading failure, I will limit my suggestions to teaching reading.
 
 
What Are the Schools Planning to Do to Correct Learning Loss?

• Some states are planning what they call “high-dosage tutoring” over the summer.  Some are even planning to hire college students to tutor children who are struggling.  I think that this could be a good idea, but it depends on how the tutors are planning to teach the children.  Again, it comes down to teaching materials.  If you are using teaching methods that have been proven to fail, no amount of tutoring will help.  

 
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Read:  What Makes A Reading Program Successful?

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• Some states plan to extend the school year.  Merely extending the school year will not necessarily help struggling students.  Again, it depends on the teaching methods and curriculum that you are using.  Failed teaching methods will not suddenly improve when you simply extend the school year.  You must change the way you teach.

 

• Some people are suggesting “grade-level exposure.”  This is basically teaching at grade level and expecting students to magically move up.  Sorry, it doesn’t happen.  The students are not failing because they want to.  They are failing because they have not been taught how to read.  This proposal is a disaster for struggling students-- the students who have been hurt the most by the pandemic will suffer the most under “grade-level exposure.”

 

• Yes, as always, there are those who are screaming retention is the only way to overcome educational losses.  Repeat the last year.  Wrong.  Making a student repeat a grade never works.  One researcher found that students retained between kindergarten and 5th grade are 60% less likely to graduate from high school.  Never retain students (make students repeat a grade) nor simply pass them on to the next grade.  Teach them instead.

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For this research and others showing that retention does not work, read:  Reason #6 That Reading Scores Were Lower in 2019:  Grade Retention and Social Promotion

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We Cannot Ignore Learning Loss.  So, What Is the Best Way to Correct the Problem?
 
In reading, our best solution for correcting learning loss is to change how we teach reading in the classroom.  We need to move away from whole language and phonics.  They have both been proven to not work for many students, especially the students who need help the most.  So, the solution we seek is the same solution we needed before the pandemic.  If we want to correct learning loss in reading, we need to change how we teach reading in the classroom.

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Read:  When Phonics Fails
 
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​
Yes, we have learning loss and we have psychological issues, the question still remains what should be done about these problems.  These are not new problems in education.  We had learning loss in reading and psychological issues before COVID.  We need to be careful that we do not blame every single problem in education on the pandemic.  We have many problems in education, and we have had for years—long before the pandemic. 
 
The question that remains is:   What should we do about these problems?
 
In an upcoming post, we will look at one suggestion on what can be done to change the way we teach reading. 

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​

For more information, see After-School Programming and Intrinsic Motivation:  Teaching At-Risk Students to Read

The 8 years of research published in this book show that we can, in fact, teach children to read who have failed in classrooms that use phonics, whole-language, or balanced literacy.  So, yes, we can undo the learning losses from COVID.

Available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle. You can also get an e-book version directly from the publisher. 

First, Do You Think Students Have Suffered Educational Losses During the Pandemic?

A recent poll stated that 67% of parents feel that their children are behind academically in school because of the pandemic.  The survey goes on to say that the parents feel that these academic losses are worse than any of the social skills concerns they may have based on school closures and online instruction. 
  
Parents are not the only ones who think students have suffered educational losses.
 
Public school teachers (K-12) also feel that students have fallen behind academically during the pandemic.  A survey from March 2021, shows that teachers feel that approximately 53% of students are showing a significant learning loss.
 
What do the students say?  A very interesting article gives comments from high school students.  I’ll only quote three, but I encourage you to take a few minutes and read this article.  The students offer insights into the educational problems facing our schools.  I have omitted student names.

• Student #1 does not feel that there has been learning loss.

 
Student #1:  “During the pandemic, I don’t feel as if I had experienced the threat of learning loss. In fact, I feel as if I have learned more during quarantine. This is because, during my free time, I have found ways to learn at my own pace and ways to practice what I have studied before.” 

• Student #2 points out issues in online education. Maybe the problem comes from how we use online education.

 
Student #2:  “I think when it comes to academics, most students have fallen behind in their learning. Online school did not allow students to learn to their fullest ability; distractions at home affected people’s ability to focus, and isolation from other students affected people’s motivation. Learning over a screen made it hard to communicate with teachers, ask questions, and fully grasp new concepts. Additionally, with fewer classes each day and less overall learning time, teachers were forced to accommodate conventional learning plans, therefore not getting through as much material as previous years. Elementary students, who are just learning essential skills such as reading and writing, have especially suffered from virtual learning; without an engaging environment, it is impossible to maintain attention.”

• Student #3 feels that the assignments were comparable to in-class learning.

 
Student #3:  “Luckily, I do not feel a learning loss academically during the pandemic. Especially, for the school year which started last fall, my courses are very rigorous and I do not feel the homework assignment lessened than a normal school year. I’m online studying for all my sophomore year, but to be honest, the classes are still challenging and I’m learning a lot. My school is doing hybrid learning: one week on campus and one week virtual. The course load is pretty heavy with tests and quizzes almost every week for different subjects. My teachers are always there to set up a zoom with me for office hours and talk with me despite my different time zone. All my classmates open their cameras during the virtual week, and there’s hot history debate and seminar taking place online, discussion, and sharing writing pieces during English class. Many of us may take this for granted.”
  
We’ve heard from parents, teachers, and students.  Is there any research being done on learning loss during the pandemic?  Yes, I found one study that concurs with the parent/teacher comments, but it also adds one very important item that must be included: “Learning loss was most pronounced among students from disadvantaged homes.”
 
This is similar to what Student #3 described.  I included this student statement because it explains that online teaching may not necessarily be the problem.  The problem may be how we used online teaching opportunities, or the teaching methods used.

 
Does the Way We Teach Online Make a Difference in the Quality of Education? 

Yes, it does make a difference, and the same is true for the classroom.  The teaching methods used in the classroom make a difference as to what is learned in the classroom.
 
Truly, student learning, whether online or in the classroom, relies on the teaching methods being used for success.  Teaching methods are not always controlled by classroom teachers (usually they are not).  Most school boards, state education departments, and even politicians determine the teaching methods being used in the classroom.

 
When Schools Select a Reading Textbook, They Also Select a Teaching Method.
 
Unfortunately, if the reading textbook selected uses methods that have been proven not to work for all students, some students will not be successful learning the material being taught.

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For more about curriculum, read:  Reason #9 that Reading Scores Were Worse in 2019:  Curriculum Choices Determine a Student’s Success or Failure in School
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Also, the children who need help the most are getting the least amount of help with online teaching.  They do not always have access to online resources, but is this a new problem?


Are You Sure That This Is a New Problem Caused by the Pandemic?
 
If we look at the surveys that we discussed at the beginning of this blog post, we see that that teachers believe 53% of students are showing a learning loss, while the survey of parents showed that they believe that 67% of students are showing a learning loss.  Yes, these are just perceptions—what the parents and teachers think.  This is not test data, so we do not know for sure how bad the learning loss actually is.
 
Yet in 2019, before COVID, according to the Nations Report Card, 60% of students were already unable to read at their grade level in 4th, 8th, and even in 12th grade.  We had a learning loss going into the pandemic.  So, are we seeing a new learning loss or are we looking at the same learning loss that was measured in 2019 before COVID?
 
There's no way to tell for sure until we get new test data from the Nations Report Card.  Of course, no one is testing during the pandemic. 

​------------- 
For a complete report on reading scores:  Reading Wars are Over!  Phonics Failed.  Whole Language Failed.  Balanced Literacy Failed. Who Won?  It Certainly Wasn’t the Students.
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Should students just sit and wait, or can we start teaching students in a new way that could help them learn right now?  As I have stated many times before, I think that we need to change how we teach reading in the classroom and online.  I do not think that we should wait.  I think that we should change now. 
 
So, the question remains, do you think that students have suffered educational losses during the pandemic?  Some have, some have not.  It all depends on the way that the students were taught during the pandemic.  Either way, we do have proven methods for teaching children to read.  We have actually had children move up 4 grade levels at my reading clinic in one year.  The pandemic doesn't need to be an educational disaster.  We just need to change how we teach children to read.
 
Yes, We Really Can Teach Children to Read, We Are Just Not Doing It.

We have the teaching methods to enable every student to be successful.  We just refuse to change from phonics and whole language and use a method that works.
 
Yes, I believe that there have been educational losses during the pandemic.  I also know that there were educational losses, especially in reading, before the pandemic.  We can overcome these losses if we just change how we teach reading.
 
​-------------
See:  Vowel Clustering Works Better than Phonics with At-Risk Students
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This is the first of a three-part series on:  How Can We Overcome the Education Losses Students Have Experienced from the Pandemic?  Stay tuned. Next, we’ll talk about some of the methods being explored for overcoming educational loss during the pandemic.

​After-School Programming and Intrinsic Motivation explains how the Reading Orienteering Club works and presents data about its effectiveness. 

You can also download individual chapters from the publisher's website. 

While I was reading an early education newsletter this week, a teacher’s comment made me really stop and think: 
 
“Children do not just play to pass time; it is a way of expressing ideas and feelings in the context of what is currently happening in their life and in society. 
 
“Just the other day I overheard a small group of children in the home corner talking about how their baby had the virus and was going to die if they did not get an injection. I watched on as concerns for the doll’s health quickly changed to happiness, as they pretended to inject the doll. The calm nature of this quite serious situation captivated me, the children had taken on the responsibility of saving a life, but it seemed they were unaware of the magic in their work.”

 
Children know that the coronavirus is dangerous but, too often, the adults are more afraid of masks or the vaccine than of the virus. Misinformation, which is often motivated by greed, overrides people’s judgment. Shouldn’t we care about one another?

 
If preschool children can understand the importance of the COVID vaccine, why can't adults?
 
As epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said, “People are still being hospitalized with this variant [omicron], as well as dying.”

• COVID is still a major problem for children. 

 
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics  
“COVID-19 cases among children have spiked dramatically in 2022 during the Omicron variant surge, over 3.5 million child cases were reported in January.”

• It's not over.

​

As Health Day News reports, coronavirus infections are spreading among our children: 

“More than 1.1 million American children were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the week ending Jan. 20…. That is 17 percent higher than the 981,000 cases diagnosed the week before and double the number from two weeks before that.”

• Diabetes has also been added to the list of long-term problems for children that can be caused by COVID.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that: “A new study shows children under age 18 were at greater risk of being diagnosed with diabetes more than 30 days after a COVID-19 infection than those who weren’t infected with the virus or those with pre-pandemic acute respiratory infections (ARI).”
 
Yet, they also note that vaccination rates are still too low. Only about “…63.8% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated… This includes about 55% of 12- to 17-year-olds and 19.9% of children ages 5-11….”

 
Why are so many parents refusing to get their children vaccinated?

Dr. Jessica Ericson, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Penn State Health Children's Hospital, explained that being vaccinated “… makes a big difference in kids, just as it does in adults.” She went on to say, "We are not seeing many vaccinated children needing hospitalization, even among those high-risk children…."

 
Why are parents afraid of the COVID vaccine but not the COVID infection?
 
In November, I asked why parents were afraid of the COVID-19 vaccine, and in 2022, I’m still asking why parents are afraid to have their children vaccinated.  The vaccines have proven to be safe and effective.  Millions of children are getting sick every day with COVID, and schools are still having to close in many areas because of COVID.  Why would parents risk their children getting sick and possibly dying?   Is misinformation responsible?   

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For more on fear of vaccines:  Misinformation Kills:  Has Your Child Been Vaccinated?  Or, Are You Waiting?
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What is the driving force behind misinformation?

​As someone said many years ago,
 
"Only two things are infinite — the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
 
The quote is often listed as coming from Einstein, but as Quote Investigator shows—that may not be the case.  Nonetheless, I think that it may be a very appropriate quotation for what is happening in the world today. 
 
How do you explain so many people believing some of the outrageous things that are being said on social media?  Even on some supposed news media stations?  At rallies?  Again, I believe the answer is misinformation.  I also believe that one of the primary driving forces behind this misinformation is greed.
 
Frederick S. Perls, a psychiatrist of the 1940’s and founder of Gestalt therapy, once stated that an
“… impatient, greedy attitude is responsible more than anything else for the excessive stupidity we find in the world.”
  
Although I do not agree with gestalt therapy, I do think Perls’ statement on greed and stupidity has provided insight into human nature.  Greed may be one of the reasons that so many people are pushing “alternative facts,” misinformation, and just plain lies.
 
Look behind the scenes:

• Everyone by now has heard about the Spotify uproar between Neil Young and Joe Rogan over, fake information about vaccines. Young goes on to mention the 200 plus doctors who joined together to write a letter explaining the “… dangerous life-threatening COVID falsehoods found in SPOTIFY programming.”  He said, "I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others."

 
You might be asking, why are SPOTIFY and other companies supporting misinformation, especially since misinformation about COVID has been shown to be so dangerous?

 
Money.  Or as Perls said, greed.
 
I applaud all who are standing up to Spotify and the selling of misinformation.  I think that Neil Young has started a protest that may actually do some good.  Money talks.
 
 SPOTIFY is not the only source of misinformation: there are dozens of these social media sites. They make a lot of money selling falsehoods. 

• Joseph Mercola, a leading anti-vaccine advocate who has been thrown off of YouTube and Facebook, has started his own political newsletter.  He is among the top 20 listed on Substack and his subscribers pay $50 a year. The Washington Post has estimated that he makes about $2.5 million in revenues from his newsletter. He keeps 90 percent and Substack takes 10 percent. So, you can quickly see why Substack wants to keep Mercola happy.  They do not care what he writes or says.  It can be true or false.  Mercola and Spotify are making money.  The concept of a subscription service is bringing in so much money that Twitter and Facebook are planning paid subscription-based newsletters as well.  Greed abounds; forget truth.  Truth doesn’t make much money.

 
Another source of misinformation is the “Disinformation Dozen.” As Mary Pappefuss explains: 


“The “Disinformation Dozen” produce 65% of the shares of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms, concluded the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. … [The Disinformation Dozen are] individuals who do not have relevant medical expertise and have their own pockets to line, who are abusing social media platforms to misrepresent the threat of COVID and spread misinformation about the safety of vaccines.”
 
“Anti-vaccine activists on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter reach more than 59 million followers, making these the largest and most important social media platforms for anti-vaxxers…”

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For more on the dangers of misinformation, read:  How Dangerous Is Misinformation?
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Again, what do we see as the driving force—greed, money.  These people are making bundles and bundles of money selling lies.  I’ve listed only three.  How can we stop this?
 
We need to love and care about each other.
 
I do not know how to stop misinformation, but, as a psychologist, I do know that we need to love and care for each other.  We need more kindness and less name calling.  We need compassion and concern for someone other than just self.  We need less anger and hatred.  We need to reach out and help others.  We need to show others that we care each and every day.  Caring for others is healthy and creates wellbeing.  Hate and anger do not.
 
I do think that the protest that Neil Young and other musicians started with SPOTIFY is helping.  If you take money away from the social media companies, then perhaps they will begin to care about the welfare of innocent people, especially the children.  As adults, we should do all that we can do to protect the children.  Taking masks away from children in schools and refusing to vaccinate children is not protecting children.  It is doing the opposite.  I believe that social media, misinformation, and political parties are driving the hate and the anti-vaccine movement.

 
We need to search for the truth.  We need for everyone to be vaccinated.
 
Yes, the COVID vaccine is safe (even for children), and it saves lives. Researchers from Yale University and the Commonwealth Fund found that the vaccine saved approximately “… 279,000 additional deaths due to Covid-19 -- about 46% more than there were -- and as many as 1.25 million additional hospitalizations if there were no vaccinations.” 
 
Vaccines save lives.  If you are not vaccinated, get vaccinated.  Vaccinate the children too and don’t forget to get your booster shot.  As the slogan goes:  “the life you save may be your own.”

 
A new variant is coming our way.

Right now, Omicron BA.1 is responsible for 98% of the COVID infections worldwide, but Omicron BA.2 is beginning to spread.  Omicron BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1—that means that you can catch it more easily, and it passes from one person to another more easily.  Research has shown that unvaccinated people are more likely to catch BA.2 and to pass it on to others, as a Danish study shows:
 
[BA.2] “…spreads more easily among unvaccinated people….  Unvaccinated: about 10% more likely to catch the coronavirus from someone with BA.2 than the fully vaccinated household members, and about 20% more likely to pass it on…."
 
As with Omicron BA.1, fully vaccinated people (with booster) are less likely to catch BA.2 or pass it on to someone else.
 
So, yes everyone needs to get vaccinated.  It’s not about “freedom,” “personal choice,” or “control.” Every single person who isn’t vaccinated is potentially exposing every other person in their community, neighborhood, family, or school because unvaccinated people are allowing COVID to continue to grow, spread, and change into new variants.  When people refuse to get vaccinated, they are actually supporting COVID-19 because they allow the pandemic to continue.  Yes, when you are unvaccinated, you are encouraging COVID to spread.  Don’t take my word for it.  Read this report. 

 
Why can’t we care about each other? 
 
If you are unvaccinated, should you feel responsible when you make someone else sick? 
 
Do you remember the teacher who took off her mask in September to read a story and made children sick? 
 
An unvaccinated teacher from Marin County, California decided to go ahead and go to school and teach one day even though she had a cough, slight fever, and a headache. During reading time, she decided to take her mask off to read to her students.  Although the students were wearing masks, 80% of the students sitting in the first two rows, those closest to the teacher while she was reading, later tested positive for COVID-19.  Four siblings of these infected students also came down with COVID.  Four parents of children who tested positive from this one classroom episode, also came down with COVID, and only one parent was unvaccinated.  Six students tested positive for COVID after a sleepover that was hosted by one of the students from the original class.  None of the students were eligible for vaccine because they were younger than 12 years old.  Of the 26 elementary students who caught COVID from this one unvaccinated teacher removing her mask to read a story, 18 of the students were tested and found to have the Delta variant.

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For more on this story, read:  Coronavirus is Raging Through the Schools.  We Must Have Mask and Vaccine Mandates to Protect the Children.9-8-21
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​Why can’t we care what happens to someone else?  Should we only think about ourselves—not our neighbor?  Many of the unvaccinated claim to be Christians.  Whatever happened to “love your neighbor as you love yourself?”  The opposite of love is not hate. It has been pointed out that the opposite of love is selfishness: 
 
“So what is the opposite of love, if it’s not hate?  The truth is, the opposite of love is selfishness which is seen far more often than hatred.  Love results in giving, so its opposite is selfishness – the absence of giving.
 
“Hate is created by something that affects the things we love.”
 
We need to find a way to heal our nation.  Instead of selling hate, we need to encourage compassion, concern for others, helping your neighbor, caring for children—all children, not just your own.  We need peace and love.