Speech-language IEPs are now at the highest rate ever recorded. The states that masked longest have the most young children in special education. Neither a testing backlog nor missed classroom time ex
Many, if not most, of the policies deployed during the covid dumpster fire simply upset or disappointed me on a personal basis. For example, having to wear a mask to ride mass transit or shop at the grocery store was inconvenient and I knew it was also stupid. This data is different. It's heartbreaking in the most visceral way. The people who we should have been protecting and supporting, children, will bear the burden of dumbassery thrust upon them by fearful (and in some cases, corrupt) adults. There is probably a more nuanced and thoughtful way I could respond, but I cannot think of it right now. Damn.
I cannot argue your point. (Particularly, since I agree!) In fact, as I have noted on other Substack pages, one of our BIGGEST mistakes was positioning our opposition to masking as "not helpful" versus "harmful" early-on. I STILL see people wearing masks, likely using the logic of Pascal's Wager, i.e., "can't hurt, might help." Unfortunately, it can and does hurt.
Yes, there are at least three studies that indicate masking in the operating theater offers zero protection, however, as the cost was relatively small, they continued with masking. They did keep changing them every 4 hours due to self contamination though.
Exactly. A practice with a low perceived cost and a high perceived benefit tends to maintain adoption. Superstitions might be the best example! The every-4-hour thing *should* have driven people to dump the practice outside the operating room. We know how that turned out. Ha!
Nobody but surgical team members, those with required certification in respiratory protection and a handful of others knew this. With MDs and Nurses calling for masking, those against it were silenced, the sheeple fell for it.
I too agree that more needed to be spreading the word that masks are not benign. However, having said that, I did to zero effect. The response invariably was along the lines of, “But doctors wear them in the operating room.”
Funny you mention... The FIRST study I read as I researched masking was about doctors and operating rooms. It was unequivocal in its conclusion that the practice was more about tradition than protection. From that point, I basically ignored that objection. (That didn't stop people from using it, though!)
Does anyone remember their local, state or national SLT programs speaking up n defense of the kids they serve? One of the biggest disappointments was being completely abandoned by the ‘professionals’ who should have known better and I thought were in my corner regarding SPED. SLTs totally failed.
I know you're doing the best with the data you have, but even within the states there was big differences in mask mandates. In the "free state of Florida" despite Gov. DeSantis' executive order to end mask mandates several Dem-controlled counties defied the EO and required masks, took litigation and increased threats to withhold state funding to get them into compliance.
Deep blue Broward was the largest county school system to require masks, took longest to comply with the EO. Miami-Dade, Orange (Orlando), Palm Beach, Duval (Jacksonville), Leon (Tallahassee, FSU), Hillsborough (Tampa), Sarasota, Alachua (Gainesville, UF), Volusia (Daytona), a few others. And that went on into September, 2021 for the ones that fought it all the way to the final court ruling that upheld the DeSantis EO.
And it's worth noting that many of those counties vote Republican but have Democrat and Rino-led school boards. Just a reminder that the "Free State of Florida" wasn't very free in Dem and Rino controlled districts. Remember, Ohio was Rino controlled and had barely any mandate difference from New York and California. And on the other end, even states like NY and CO that had Republican controlled rural counties and districts defied state mandates. Their experiences were very different than the population centers.
So within the data about the state rankings, outcomes, IEP percentages there's even more information sitting below the statewide surface that I'm quite certain will show disparate outcomes that match the overall state ones, but by counties/school districts based on mask mandates. I'd bet that will account for any and all of the increases in Florida, as low as the state overall average is, the mask mandate counties substantially skewed the average.
If there's a way to break down the data to that level it will be even starker.
Speaking out against masks cost some of us our families too, at least it did me mine. And you are correct, it is not a US centric problem. I am an American living in Japan and for over 20 years until this past Spring was married to a Japanese national. Our son, now 12, entered grade school just as the panic hit. The school year starts in April in Japan. Everyone at his school was forced to wear the compliance rag for over four years. A couple years into the mania, he began repeating what he heard others say but incorrectly. we thought he was just playing around. After several months of this, after what I thought was lampooning his mother, he said under his breath that he cannot tell the difference between certain sounds of his native language. Roughly 6 months later, his pronunciation was now noticeably off as well. How could it be any different when he had been denied the right to hear his native language spoken without interference from one or more masks and often the addition of a face shield for the first several years of the panic?
The fact that kids (actually not just kids – everyone) were forced to wear masks during the imaginary pandemic is one of the most despicable human follies in history. Even more depressing was that Asian kids, especially Japanese, were reluctant to stop wearing masks even after the mandates were lifted (some are still wearing them). When interviewers asked why, many said they were hiding their ugliness: once they saw friend’s unattractive faces when the masks came off (by this point, they hadn't seen each other's faces for several years), they realized their own faces were likely just as ugly and decided to keep covering. How sad! A lot of damage has been done — not just to their speech.
Yes, roughly a third of those here in and around Tokyo are still masking. Many are children and at times it seems more kids now are wearing them than at the height of the panic.
I think the end statement should be “We shouldn’t have had to REprove it.” This has been known. People who demand studies on the obvious need to be asked to show their studies proving wheels roll.
The now exwife worked for Pf and was a mad masker, among other covid policies. While I did not lose any work due to my anti masking, I could not replace the many lost during the panic without masking. When we could finally ride trains again as a family, wife and son shouted at me on the train for not masking and eventually fled to the other end of the car.
If I had been forced to do this to my kid, I would have sent them to school in this type of Rhinestone Mesh mask--the same type that I wore when forced. No one EVER called me out on it.
Many, if not most, of the policies deployed during the covid dumpster fire simply upset or disappointed me on a personal basis. For example, having to wear a mask to ride mass transit or shop at the grocery store was inconvenient and I knew it was also stupid. This data is different. It's heartbreaking in the most visceral way. The people who we should have been protecting and supporting, children, will bear the burden of dumbassery thrust upon them by fearful (and in some cases, corrupt) adults. There is probably a more nuanced and thoughtful way I could respond, but I cannot think of it right now. Damn.
Masking is not benign. It was worse than stupid.
I cannot argue your point. (Particularly, since I agree!) In fact, as I have noted on other Substack pages, one of our BIGGEST mistakes was positioning our opposition to masking as "not helpful" versus "harmful" early-on. I STILL see people wearing masks, likely using the logic of Pascal's Wager, i.e., "can't hurt, might help." Unfortunately, it can and does hurt.
Yes, there are at least three studies that indicate masking in the operating theater offers zero protection, however, as the cost was relatively small, they continued with masking. They did keep changing them every 4 hours due to self contamination though.
Exactly. A practice with a low perceived cost and a high perceived benefit tends to maintain adoption. Superstitions might be the best example! The every-4-hour thing *should* have driven people to dump the practice outside the operating room. We know how that turned out. Ha!
Nobody but surgical team members, those with required certification in respiratory protection and a handful of others knew this. With MDs and Nurses calling for masking, those against it were silenced, the sheeple fell for it.
I too agree that more needed to be spreading the word that masks are not benign. However, having said that, I did to zero effect. The response invariably was along the lines of, “But doctors wear them in the operating room.”
Funny you mention... The FIRST study I read as I researched masking was about doctors and operating rooms. It was unequivocal in its conclusion that the practice was more about tradition than protection. From that point, I basically ignored that objection. (That didn't stop people from using it, though!)
Do you have a reference for that study so that I can read it and decide for myself if it was unequivocal?
Fair request. Let me see if I can dig it up.
Roughly a third in Japan are still wearing them, including young kids.
Does anyone remember their local, state or national SLT programs speaking up n defense of the kids they serve? One of the biggest disappointments was being completely abandoned by the ‘professionals’ who should have known better and I thought were in my corner regarding SPED. SLTs totally failed.
I know you're doing the best with the data you have, but even within the states there was big differences in mask mandates. In the "free state of Florida" despite Gov. DeSantis' executive order to end mask mandates several Dem-controlled counties defied the EO and required masks, took litigation and increased threats to withhold state funding to get them into compliance.
Deep blue Broward was the largest county school system to require masks, took longest to comply with the EO. Miami-Dade, Orange (Orlando), Palm Beach, Duval (Jacksonville), Leon (Tallahassee, FSU), Hillsborough (Tampa), Sarasota, Alachua (Gainesville, UF), Volusia (Daytona), a few others. And that went on into September, 2021 for the ones that fought it all the way to the final court ruling that upheld the DeSantis EO.
https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/federal-judge-denies-parents-suit-to-block-floridas-ban-on-school-mask-mandates/2021/09
And it's worth noting that many of those counties vote Republican but have Democrat and Rino-led school boards. Just a reminder that the "Free State of Florida" wasn't very free in Dem and Rino controlled districts. Remember, Ohio was Rino controlled and had barely any mandate difference from New York and California. And on the other end, even states like NY and CO that had Republican controlled rural counties and districts defied state mandates. Their experiences were very different than the population centers.
So within the data about the state rankings, outcomes, IEP percentages there's even more information sitting below the statewide surface that I'm quite certain will show disparate outcomes that match the overall state ones, but by counties/school districts based on mask mandates. I'd bet that will account for any and all of the increases in Florida, as low as the state overall average is, the mask mandate counties substantially skewed the average.
If there's a way to break down the data to that level it will be even starker.
Excellent point.
Speaking out against masks cost some of us our families too, at least it did me mine. And you are correct, it is not a US centric problem. I am an American living in Japan and for over 20 years until this past Spring was married to a Japanese national. Our son, now 12, entered grade school just as the panic hit. The school year starts in April in Japan. Everyone at his school was forced to wear the compliance rag for over four years. A couple years into the mania, he began repeating what he heard others say but incorrectly. we thought he was just playing around. After several months of this, after what I thought was lampooning his mother, he said under his breath that he cannot tell the difference between certain sounds of his native language. Roughly 6 months later, his pronunciation was now noticeably off as well. How could it be any different when he had been denied the right to hear his native language spoken without interference from one or more masks and often the addition of a face shield for the first several years of the panic?
The fact that kids (actually not just kids – everyone) were forced to wear masks during the imaginary pandemic is one of the most despicable human follies in history. Even more depressing was that Asian kids, especially Japanese, were reluctant to stop wearing masks even after the mandates were lifted (some are still wearing them). When interviewers asked why, many said they were hiding their ugliness: once they saw friend’s unattractive faces when the masks came off (by this point, they hadn't seen each other's faces for several years), they realized their own faces were likely just as ugly and decided to keep covering. How sad! A lot of damage has been done — not just to their speech.
Yes, roughly a third of those here in and around Tokyo are still masking. Many are children and at times it seems more kids now are wearing them than at the height of the panic.
I think the end statement should be “We shouldn’t have had to REprove it.” This has been known. People who demand studies on the obvious need to be asked to show their studies proving wheels roll.
Wow, that much?! It's insane. My condolences 😔
The now exwife worked for Pf and was a mad masker, among other covid policies. While I did not lose any work due to my anti masking, I could not replace the many lost during the panic without masking. When we could finally ride trains again as a family, wife and son shouted at me on the train for not masking and eventually fled to the other end of the car.
Never ever believe the MSM, government or the medical mafia. All of these people are murderers.
If I had been forced to do this to my kid, I would have sent them to school in this type of Rhinestone Mesh mask--the same type that I wore when forced. No one EVER called me out on it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089SGPNDL