Covid | Neurodevelopmental problems detected in children born during the pandemic

Specialists in childhood and adolescent mental health have warned that neurodevelopmental problems have been detected in children born during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19.

According to Dr. Gemma Ochando, a pediatrician specialized in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at La Salud Hospital and a member of the Society of Child Psychiatry of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, “In children born with the start of the pandemic, an increase in neurodevelopmental problems is being detected, such as ” while in adolescents they have found an increase in emotional problems such as anxiety and depression.

With the pandemic, the way of relating has changed and social interaction has decreased, the young child learns not to touch, keep their distance and not get close to the rest- and with it the sources of neurosensory stimulation in children have been limited to the intrafamily environment , has indicated.

Outside the family environment, all the people who interact with the child do so with face mask which supposes a limitation in the recognition of facial expressions and of the verbal language that produces a decrease in sound intensity, especially the acute ones, with greater difficulty in understanding and imitating them, indicates the pediatrician.

The strong restrictions caused by the pandemic have caused a drastic decrease in traditional games, in groups, with other children of their age, which leads to less stimulation and a decrease in learning by imitation.

With strict confinement, children’s access to early childhood education centers and this has meant a decrease in the neurosensory stimulation that is carried out in these environments and, on the other hand, has delayed the diagnoses of neurodevelopmental difficulties by teachers, important agents in the detection of said problems, especially in their initial stages.

On the other hand, parents have had to reconcile family life with work, many of them have had to telework and children have spent more time in contact with screens, which has consequences on the neurodevelopment of young children, so its use is not recommended, especially in children under 3 years of age.

“All this has conditioned this increase in the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders and the delay in their diagnosis. It has also motivated a delay in the maturational development items in different spheres”, explains Dr. Ochando, who also clarifies that “fortunately the great neuronal plasticity of children, especially in this age group, will allow these situations to be reversed in a significant percentage of them.