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Christine McGuinness says autistic daughter developed stutter in lockdown

Christine McGuinness (Keith Mayhew/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Christine McGuinness (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Christine McGuinness has told how her three autistic children's speech has “regressed” during the coronavirus pandemic, with her youngest daughter developing a stutter.

The star and her husband Paddy McGuinness are parents to seven-year-old twins Leo and Penelope and five-year-old Felicity, who are all autistic, and Christine previously admitted they were “struggling” amid lockdown.

She has now opened up about how it has affected her children’s speech.

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“They've regressed quite a lot,” she said on ITV’s Loose Women.

“Again, speech doesn't come naturally to them. I spent years going to speech and language therapy with the children and I still do, but they have all gone backwards with their speech and communication skills.

“My daughter, my youngest daughter Felicity, developed a stutter over the first lockdown, which was never there before.

"It was every single word so it was quite severe.

Paddy McGuinness (right) and Christine McGuinness attending the National Television Awards 2019 held at the O2 Arena, London. Photo credit should read: Doug Peters/EMPICS
Paddy and Christine McGuinness (Doug Peters/EMPICS)

"She is still in speech therapy getting help for that.”

“These are problems that definitely wouldn't have come into our lives if it wasn't for the global pandemic,” she added.

McGuinness, 32, said she felt for everyone having to home-school.

She explained that although there had been "magical moments" at her house, she felt that home-schooling was "not tailored for children with additional needs".

“They are very black and white our children, school is school and home is home," she said.

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“We can manage an art class, we can manage PE, the fun things, but the actual home-schooling, sitting in front of a computer, it’s just not right.

“I don’t think it’s nice for any children, but for ours it has not been very good.”

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