COVID-19: Transdisciplinary Impact on Children and Adolescents

Excerpt

Four years ago, the United States was in the midst of its first spring of COVID-19, and the first article was published citing the events that led up to the outbreak (Wang et al., 2020). The world’s response was swift in many cases, and by the end of March 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic (WHO, 2020), forcing a cascade of responses, including the temporary closure of many schools. On March 12, 2020, Ohio became the first state in the US to shut down schools, and by March 25, 2020, all US public school buildings were closed (Education Week, 2020). Children became isolated at home, businesses closed, incomes were lost, schools transitioned to virtual learning, and the practice of medicine and neuropsychology became evermore challenging. This dramatic reshaping of the lives of children and neuropsychological services led many to wonder what the outcomes of the medical, psychological, educational, and social functioning of our children would be. We know research takes time to answer questions and that while some areas of research related to medicine and COVID-19 were moving forward at exceptional speed, other research activities were affected as funds dwindled (Nature Medicine, 2020). Much of the COVID-19 research that was taking place was oftentimes haphazard, with untested measurement instruments and biased sample selection. Today, this special issue provides insight into what we have learned about the time we were in, how children have responded to many of the stressors placed upon them and the protective factors that helped to mitigate negative reactions, and how we will continue to need to view the ramifications of this time on the lives of those children and families with whom we work. …