41 The prevalence of Canadian kindergarten children with special health needs: A pre-post COVID-19 analysis using the Early Development Instrument
Notice bibliographique
Résumé
Abstract Background Early childhood plays a significant role in child development, health, and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of everyday life for children in Canada. With healthcare visits being deferred and early education programs closing temporarily, the pandemic may have affected vulnerable populations, such as children with special health needs (SHN) more severely than children developing typically. SHN encompasses a range of disorders affecting behaviour, communication, physical and/or intellectual development. Kindergarten teachers’ observations and concerns of their students' abilities and behaviours play an important role in SHN identification. While formal medical diagnoses may take time, the teacher observations within a classroom can initiate early support for children at school. However, it remains unclear whether the teacher-reported prevalence of SHN in kindergarten children increased after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives We aimed to determine the SHN prevalence of Canadian kindergarten children before (2017-2020) and after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic (2021-2023) in relation to neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status (SES). Design/Methods From 2017 to 2023, kindergarten teachers in seven provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador) and one territory (Northwest Territories) reported SHN for their students using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). EDI records were linked with neighbourhood sociodemographic data from the 2016 Canadian Census and 2015 Taxfiler for 2,058 neighbourhoods. We examined the relationship using linear regressions. Results Among 485,543 children valid for analysis, the prevalence of teacher-reported SHN in kindergarten children increased from 22.2% to 25.2% following the onset of COVID-19 pandemic (Cramer’s V = 0.035, p<0.001). This increase varied across jurisdictions, with the rise of provincial and territorial prevalence of SHN post-COVID-19 onset ranging from 0.8% to 22.2% (mean = 14.73%, SD = 0.113). The linear regression revealed that the prevalence of SHN varied by neighbourhood, with lower SES neighbourhoods having a greater percentage of children with SHNs. For one standard deviation decrease in neighbourhood-level SES, there was a 0.19 increase in the percentage of children with SHN pre-COVID-19 (R2 = 0.035, p<0.001), and a 0.24 increase post-COVID-19 onset (R2 = 0.068, p<0.001). Separate regressions for jurisdictions indicated that the association between neighbourhood SES and SHN was strongest in Newfoundland & Labrador and weakest in Quebec, both pre- and post-COVID-19 onset. Conclusion Our results demonstrate a higher prevalence in children with teacher-reported SHN after the COVID-19 pandemic with a greater proportion of children with SHN residing in lower SES-neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood-level SES association was stronger post-COVID-19, possibly indicating widening inequities in service access. Our findings points to the urgency for additional support in the classroom for children who are showing signs of difficulty in kindergarten. This study was funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR).
Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.
Comment cette classification a été obtenuedéplier
Prédiction machine sur la base complète
Imitation des enseignantsNi prévalence calibrée, ni vérité terrain. Validation humaine à venir. Le volet Gemma est une étiquette directe du modèle pour chaque travail de la base, lue sur la notice réduite au titre. Le volet Codex est un classifieur appris des 10 348 étiquettes directes de Codex et calibré sur les taux pondérés de l'échantillon; les champs sans appui suffisant ne portent aucun appel Codex. Le mode candidate est l'union des deux volets; le consensus est leur intersection. Ces sorties portent le statut machine_predicted_unvalidated et ne sont pas des étiquettes humaines.
Scores du classifieur distillé par catégorie (deux têtes)
| Catégorie | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Métarecherche | 0,001 | 0,003 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens strict) | 0,001 | 0,000 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens large) | 0,000 | 0,001 |
| Bibliométrie | 0,004 | 0,005 |
| Études des sciences et des technologies | 0,002 | 0,001 |
| Communication savante | 0,001 | 0,000 |
| Science ouverte | 0,002 | 0,001 |
| Intégrité de la recherche | 0,000 | 0,001 |
| Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger) | 0,004 | 0,000 |
Scores machine (provisoires)
Les deux têtes enseignantes du modèle étudiant, lues sur ce travail. Un score ordonne la base pour la relecture; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie, et le statut de validation accompagne chaque rangée tel quel.
Scores de référence d'un modèle non mature (critères de maturité non atteints, 7 itérations). Un score ordonne; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · tel quel depuis la passe de notation : score_only signifie que le nombre peut ordonner les travaux, et qu'aucune étiquette de catégorie n'en découleClassification
machine, non validéePrédiction automatique; un appel candidat d’une seule source (Gemma direct ou Codex distillé), pas un consensus.
Le détail, modèle par modèle et score par score, se trouve en fin de page sous « Comment cette classification a été obtenue ».