Will Programs Be Prepared to Teach Young Children At-Risk Post-pandemic? A Scoping Review of Early Childhood Education Experiences

Given that quality early school experiences are predictive of later school success, fostering efficacious early education and kindergarten adjustment is an educational priority. Yet pre-COVID-19 research demonstrates that children who are at risk for academic difficulties experience barriers in school that require additional support during their early education. The COVID-19 global crisis has erected additional, unpredictable barriers that may be detrimental to early school experiences and, in many cases, has resulted in the elimination of early schooling opportunities altogether. While inimical to most children, eliminating early education opportunities for students with multiple risk factors (e.g., geographic isolation, developmental delays, and low socioeconomic status) sets conditions for an even higher risk of academic failure. This scoping review synthesizes current research on teacher, parent, and child experiences during pandemic-related school closures and recommendations for school adaptations and family support around early education and transition to kindergarten in the shadow of COVID-19. A scoping review of the literature was conducted, drawing upon four databases (ERIC, MEDLINE, APA PsycNet, and Science Direct). Searches included quantitative and qualitative studies published from January 2020 until the end of July 2021, examining inquiry into early education experiences and kindergarten transition during the COVID-19 pandemic for young children at-risk for academic difficulties. A total of 13 articles were included in the review. Results inform school transition, early childhood education practice, and means to support families with young children at-risk for academic difficulties as the pandemic continues and potential future crises arise. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Lessons Learned Supporting Families of Young Children with Disabilities via Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In-person supports for parents of young children with developmental delay were closed in spring of 2020 in the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When services were disrupted, our team of social workers and psychologists were working with families in the community as part of a research program promoting positive parenting, healthy family adjustment, and behavioral support to children with developmental delay. This chapter focuses on our shift from in-person, group-based parenting classes to the delivery of telehealth parenting classes for families with young children with special needs. In this chapter we outline 20 lessons learned from our experiences examining the impact of the pandemic on families’ lives and services provided to children with special needs. We discuss not only the decisions made but also the successes and failures experienced during the process of shifting our family-centered services from in-person to telehealth. This chapter outlines practical strategies for social workers and other mental health providers who offer early family-centered supports to caregivers whose young children have developmental delay and/or disabilities. Throughout the chapter, we offer concrete examples to inspire professionals during the pandemic and beyond. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Transplantation of iPSC-derived neural progenitor cells promotes clinical recovery and repair in response to murine coronavirus-induced neurologic disease

Intracranial inoculation of susceptible strains of mice with the neuroadapted JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus (JHMV, a member of the Coronaviridae family of viruses) results in an acute encephalomyelitis characterized by widespread growth of virus in astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes with relative sparing of neurons. Virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells infiltrate into the central nervous system in response to infection and control viral replication through secretion of interferon gamma as well as cytolytic activity. Nonetheless, virus persists in white matter tracts, and animals develop an immune-mediated demyelinating disease in which both T cells and macrophages amplify white matter damage. For the past decade, we have explored the therapeutic potential of human neural progenitor cells derived from pluripotent stem cells in promoting clinical recovery associated with remyelination of demyelinated axons following intraspinal transplantation. This chapter highlights recent studies from our laboratories demonstrating that tissue repair is associated with the emergence of regulatory T cells in response to transplantation of NPCs. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Telehealth Delivery of a Behavioral Parent Training Program to Spanish-Speaking Latinx Parents of Young Children With Developmental Delay: Applying an Implementation Framework Approach

Families play an important role in supporting children’s learning and behavioral health. School psychologists are ideally situated to promote family–school partnerships, home–school collaboration, and enhance positive parenting practices on behalf of students. When American schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many families experienced increased stress and caregiving burden associated with supporting their children at home. We delivered a behavioral parent training program via telehealth to 42 Spanish-speaking Latinx parents of preschool children with developmental delay (DD) and elevated behavior problems during the pandemic. We used an implementation framework to examine acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, and implementation cost of the telehealth approach for this sample. Our findings suggest overall positive implementation outcomes for Latinx parents of children with DD. We discuss key implementation issues that are relevant to school psychologists delivering consultation and family-centered interventions to support families and students from diverse backgrounds. Impact Statement Parents of children with disabilities experience heightened stress and caregiving burden, likely exacerbated by the school closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We delivered a behavioral parent training program via telehealth during the pandemic to Spanish-speaking parents of preschool children with developmental delay to support parenting at home. Study findings suggest strong support for the implementation outcomes investigated. © 2021 National Association of School Psychologists.

Examining the impact of COVID-19 in ethnically diverse families with young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic introduced challenges to families with young children with developmental delays. Beyond the widespread concerns surrounding illness, loss of employment and social isolation, caregivers are responsible for overseeing their children's educational and therapeutic programmes at home often without the much needed support of professionals. METHOD: The present study sought to examine the impact of COVID-19 in 77 ethnically, linguistically and socioeconomically diverse families with young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) in California and Oregon, who were participating in larger intervention studies. Parents responded to five interview questions about the impact of the pandemic, services for their child, silver linings or positive aspects, coping and their concerns about the long-term impact of the pandemic. RESULTS: Parents reported that their biggest challenge was being at home caring for their children with the loss of many essential services. Parents reported some positive aspects of the pandemic, especially being together as a family. Although there were positive aspects of the situation, many parents expressed concern about long-term impacts of the pandemic on their children's development, given the loss of services, education and social engagement opportunities. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that parents of young children with IDD report significant challenges at home during the pandemic. Professional support, especially during the reopening phases, will be critical to support family well-being and child developmental outcomes.