Digitalization in early childhood intervention - experiences, opportunities, challenges.

To sustain early childhood intervention services during the Covid-19 pandemic, professionals, families, and communities had to move their support services to a digital distance. This posed particular challenges for all involved, as early childhood intervention is based on face-to-face contact in its basic design. However, as digital solutions were tested, the opportunities offered by supplementing face-to-face contacts with digital offerings also became apparent. Copyright © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2023.

Providing Virtual Support to Children With Mild Developmental Delays in Response to the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had massive impacts across the globe. Children with developmental delays are an increasingly vulnerable population, highlighting the importance of ensuring they have access to high-quality virtual services during this time. The Early Discovery program currently provides therapeutic interventions for children with mild developmental delays. We sought to compare the outcomes of 2 cohorts within the Early Discovery program using different delivery approaches (n = 238 families): children who received services in person before the pandemic (n = 126) and children who received services via telehealth in the acute phase of the pandemic (n = 112). Both groups of children showed significant improvements in language skills posttreatment, and, with regard to auditory comprehension, both groups showed similar rates of improvement. However, children receiving in-person services before the pandemic showed greater improvements in expressive communication skills than children receiving telehealth services during the pandemic. Results indicate that the Early Discovery program was able to make adjustments during the pandemic that assisted families in maintaining progress in improving their child's language skills.

Early childhood intervention in and after the pandemic - study results from Brandenburg.

The CoViD-19 pandemic led to significant changes in 2020 and 2021 and in some cases to considerable burdens for families, some of which are still having an impact. Service provision in form of family support services, such as the early childhood intervention networks, has also been affected by the pandemic and the measures that have been taken. This has influenced and changed the way the networks work and operate, revealing not only numerous risks but also potential. Copyright © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2023.

Early Short-Term Use of Different Doses of Corticosteroid in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pneumonia

Objective Encouraged by reports of favorable outcomes following the use of corticosteroids in patients with moderate-to-severe coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, we aimed to present our experience with early short-term corticosteroid use at our center in pediatric patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods One hundred and twenty-nine pediatric patients were included in the study. Patients were divided into four groups according to the type and dose of corticosteroids given: Group 1 (those receiving dexamethasone 0.15 mg/kg/d);Group 2 (those receiving methylprednisolone 1 mg/kg/d);Group 3 (those receiving methylprednisolone 2 mg/kg/d);and Group 4 (those receiving pulse methylprednisolone 10-30 mg/kg/d). Results Of 129 patients, 19 (14.7%) patients were assigned to Group 1, 30 (23.3%) patients to Group 2, 30 (23.3%) patients to Group 3, and 50 (38.8%) patients to Group 4. Thirty-two (24.8%) patients were followed in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), of whom 13 (10%) required mechanical ventilation, and 7 (%5.4) died. In Group 4, the hospitalization length was significantly longer than in other groups (p < 0.001, p < 0.001). No significant difference was found among the groups in terms of mortality (p = 0.15). The most common comorbidity was obesity (33%). A significant association was found between the presence of comorbidity and mortality (p < 0.001). All patients who died had an underlying disease. Cerebral palsy was the most common underlying disease among the patients who died. Worsening of lymphopenia was significant in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia at the time of transfer to the PICU (p = 0.011). Conclusion Although children usually have a milder course of COVID-19 than adults, underlying diseases and obesity increase the severity of disease manifestations also in children. Further studies are needed to define the exact role of corticosteroids in COVID-19 patients. © 2022. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Early Childhood Intervention in Times of COVID-19: Exploring the Reality/ies of Tele-interventionin Family-Centred Practices (FCP)

TRASCIENDE, as a research team, arose from the need to articulate a collaborative project between Full Inclusion-CLM and the UCLM for social, scientific, academic, and professional transformation in the field of disability, inclusion, and citizenship. As a result of the socio-health situation provoked by COVID-19, the TRASCIENDE team has been involved in the social change produced by confinement, necessarily developing a role of observer of the change. This global situation leads us to ask ourselves questions that aim to initiate research processes in practice: how has this confinement affected practices in early care? To answer this question we decided to adopt a qualitative research perspective to explore the perceptions of families and professionals (speech therapists, physiotherapists, stimulators and coordinators) of Early Care teams, their difficulties and their strengths in this situation of change. The work describes a process of exploring practices during the first months of confinement, practices that have been directed, in many cases, towards tele-intervention. Data has been collected through ethnographic interviews (families) and focus groups (professionals) and has been processed through thematic analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001). The results show the perception of families and professionals articulated in three thematic network focuses: the personal and collective reaction to the new situation, what can remain of the tele-intervention (with its nuances) and what underlies the practices in this modality. The study also opens new lines of future research which evidence the difficulty of the process of transformation towards actual family-centred models. © 2021 University of Salamanca. All rights reserved.

Response of the Spanish Early Interventionto the Lockdown Situation due to COVID-19

The extraordinary situation of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the lockdown and interruption of the usual Early Intervention (EI) services, although families and children still needed support. The Spanish professionals reacted quickly, reorganizing the intervention, experimenting with the possibilities of tele-intervention and sharing knowledge and experiences. This work reviews the resources generated, in relation to EI, during the first five weeks of lockdown (from March 13). This work also reviews opinions and feelings that were shared by professionals. 72 resources were identified, provided through social networks: documents (33), videoconferences and online seminars (32) and applications or web resources (8). Its characteristics, timing, orientation to families or professionals, and its alignment with a paradigm of intervention centered on the family or the child are analyzed. The opinions and feelings of the professionals are analyzed in reference to the resources provided, the needs observed in the families, the problems in tele-intervention and in the face of the approach to return to a "new normality". The results obtained complement the vision of families about the situation generated by the lockdown, which has been collected in other works. It concludes on the good health of EI in Spain and the need to deepen the proactive involvement of the family in the intervention team. © 2021 University of Salamanca. All rights reserved.

[Early childhood intervention from a distance-opportunities and challenges in supporting psychosocially stressed families in the COVID-19 pandemic]. / Frühe Hilfen aus der Distanz ­ Chancen und Herausforderungen bei der Unterstützung psychosozial belasteter Familien in der COVID-19-Pandemie.

As of spring 2020, contact-restricting measures were necessary to contain the incidence of infection with the SARS-CoV­2 virus in Germany. However, these restrictions posed particular challenges to families, especially families in high-stress situations. This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the life of families and if long-term support in the context of early childhood intervention could be continued. The following analyses are based on qualitative research with psychosocially stressed mothers of young children, two surveys of health professionals who provide long-term support to families in early childhood intervention, and a survey of municipal actors who are responsible for the management and implementation of early childhood intervention in German communities.During the pandemic, families in high-stress conditions report existential fears and general overstrain. Intrafamilial conflicts seem to increase. Home visits in the context of long-term psychosocial support were initially primarily replaced by phone calls, video calls or other forms of "support from a distance." During the course of the pandemic, many professionals have begun conducting home visiting again, but several elements of support from a distance continue to be used as a supplement.Due to the pandemic-related additional burdens on the families who were accompanied by early childhood intervention, the continuation of support was even more important than it already was. Having been tested by necessity during the pandemic, several formats of support from a distance may have the potential to complement the usual assistance provided by health professionals in early childhood intervention and thus contribute to its quality development push.

[Demand-driven communication strategy of the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) during the COVID-19 pandemic]. / Bedarfsbezogene Kommunikationsstrategie der Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA) während der COVID-19-Pandemie.

With the declaration of a pandemic situation of national significance by the German Bundestag, the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) is fulfilling its task of providing information for understanding the pandemic situation and implementing the necessary protective measures in a clear manner throughout Germany within the framework of the adapted National Pandemic Plan COVID-19. The BZgA targets its information according to the needs of specific groups and actively involves multipliers.In order to incorporate the perspectives of the population as well as those of prevention and health promotion professionals into the services developed by the BZgA, given the particularly initial low level of knowledge in the population, various methods and data sources were used: the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO) population survey, the monitoring of citizens' enquiries via telephone and e­mail to the BZgA, surveys of counselling professionals from nationwide telephone and online counselling centres, surveys of health professionals in early help (NZFH) and interdisciplinary practice expert hearings. Beyond providing pure information, practical and everyday offers should be developed and provided according to WHO guidelines and evidence-based criteria of effective communication in order to support the competences for a gradual adaptation to a "new normality".The paper describes the data-based and evidence-informed development process of communication content and offers, their dissemination via existing websites and channels for other topics as well as their integration into the new online platform www.zusammengegencorona.de . This demonstrates how demand-driven and target group-specific communication offers can be implemented beyond the classic and proven campaign appearance.