Learning loss continues for some students 4 years post-COVID [Video]

TAMPA, Fla. — Many children have experienced learning loss since the pandemic. Some have been able to catch up, while others are still trying to close the gap.

“She’s actually working on fine motor and upper body strength,” said Raquel Fuentes-Zapata, as she works one-on-one with her daughter Aleena in the sensory room at Bilingual Speech Therapy in Clearwater. Aleena is about to turn nine. “It allows her to be able to understand her body and space—spatial awareness.”

Raquel is a mom and full-time speech therapist. She was in the medical field when COVID-19 started and decided to leave her job and open her own speech therapy facility during the pandemic.

“Go ahead and pull out all of the little beads that you find in there,” she said as she sat with Aleena at a desk. Aleena is playing with putty, a way to work on her handwriting and fine motor skills.

She’s also come a long way.

“She essentially lost a year of learning,” Raquel said.

Aleena …