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Publication Date

Spring 2026

Degree Type

Thesis - Campus Access Only

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Communicative Disorders and Sciences

Advisor

Paul Cascella; Joseph Hinz; Zoe Giatis

Abstract

This research explores educators’ opinions of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on young children’s social emotional development. Second- and third- grade educators described how the pandemic influenced children’s theory of mind, apathy, and pragmatic skills. One-on-one interviews were conducted with eight elementary school educators who have worked with second- and third- grade students at least five years pre- and post- pandemic. They were asked cued recall, yes/no, and Likert style questions. Educators reported more apathy among students post-pandemic. Similarly, educators noted a minor reduction in pragmatics skills post-pandemic. However, no trend was observed in children’s theory of mind. An interpretive thematic analysis revealed that educators are explicitly teaching social emotional skills more often since the pandemic. Implications are described in the context of social emotional learning, trauma informed care, the roles of general education teachers and school speech-language pathologists, and parent education. Future research directions are proposed to examine the variety of variables and longitudinal outcomes of the pandemic’s influence on children’s social emotional development.

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