Even before the pandemic, many families faced long waits to get those developmental assessments. “Those who are vulnerable already are always going to be more severely affected — families who already had more limited access to primary care providers or are underinsured or uninsured already had a harder time,” Dr. Spinks-Franklin said.
Now, she said, the pandemic is placing those families even more at risk, because of the likelihood of economic hardship from jobs loss, underemployment or lost health care benefits. The disparities are exacerbated, and the chance of getting to the right clinic and the right health care professional go down.
Right now, because families are isolated or may not have good access to medical care, neurodevelopmental problems may be being missed in these critical early years, when getting diagnosed would help children get therapy. On the other hand, some children who don’t have these underlying problems and are just reacting to the strange and often anxiety-provoking circumstances of pandemic life may mistakenly be thought to be showing signs of autism.
Parents and even doctors may worry about autism spectrum disorder in children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or anxiety, and who are being seen in unusual situations — in a parking lot, for example. “I’ve been undoing diagnoses,” Dr. Lord said. “It’s not surprising that a kid is looking a bit less relaxed.”
Dr. Spinks-Franklin said that the pressures of the pandemic may act on children as other stresses do, and show up as more extreme behavior, such as more frequent tantrums or increased irritability.
“All that bounces is not A.D.H.D.; all that flaps is not autism,” Dr. Spinks-Franklin said.
What Parents Can Do
To understand whether a child’s extreme behavior represents chronic stress and increased frustration related to the hardships that families are living through, or is a sign of a neurodevelopmental disorder, it’s important to figure out whether these behaviors were present before the pandemic, Dr. Spinks-Franklin said.
If parents have concerns about a child’s development or behavior, a good place to start is to talk the question through with the child’s primary care provider, who can also review the record with the parents and talk about the child’s early developmental course.
