The Post-Pandemic Child
In March 2020, schools and childcare centres across Australia were forced to close to control the spread of the recently arrived novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Families and carers suddenly had to adjust to long periods of home-schooling, disparities in the availability of technology, loss of social connections with friends and relatives, and an exhausting new balancing act of work, home and schooling commitments—all in a confined environment. In the wake of the resulting emotional burnout, heightened by spontaneous lockdown measures and growing COVID-19 cases, we witnessed an exponential rise in youth anxiety, triggering a mental health crisis in children as young as those of kindergarten age.
Three years later, what does the post-pandemic child look like? What does the future hold for the millions of young Australians whose formative years were so disrupted? And what help must we urgently provide to this generation of children who found themselves coping with a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic?
In The Post-Pandemic Child, Kim Cornish takes us through the key challenges now faced by Australian children, including the return to in-person schooling and the ramifications of online teaching and missed years of social interaction. She also examines the short- and long-term consequences for this ‘pandemic generation’, and the priorities in enabling these children to regain what was lost during the early years of COVID-19.
Professor Kim Cornish is a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor and Director of the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. She previously worked at McGill University (Montreal) as the Canada Research Chair in developmental neuroscience. Originally from Manchester in the United Kingdom, she has spent thirty years of her career to date tracing the developmental pathways of young children with vulnerable brains—including children with autism, Fragile X syndrome and Down syndrome—as well as children who are neurotypical. Most recently, she has focused on the translation of this new knowledge into community-based digital programs, co-designed with educators and families, to help strengthen early cognitive functioning.
Professor Cornish has held senior research positions in three countries (the UK, Canada and Australia) and has been instrumental in disseminating key research outcomes to the media, scientific meetings and parent support groups across the globe. She received her BSc(Hons) from Lancaster University and a PhD from the University of London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
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