In Italy developmental neuro-psychological disorders affect almost 2 million children and young people. Common risk factors and genetic, neurobiological and environmental components across specific age groups can in fact interfere with the process of neuro-development (that complex period from conception to the first 1,000 days and then up to young adulthood), modifying the development of the brain very early, compromising the neural networks that underlie the maturation of adaptive, motor, communication, learning, emotion and behavior functions. The effects of these changes can be evident from the first years of life, leading to the onset of disorders such as autism, language and learning disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and epilepsy. Or become evident in adolescence, with psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression.
Promoting health and safeguarding neurodevelopment is therefore crucial in determining the good physical and mental health of individuals, as it is in the genesis and possibilities of treatment of neurological, psychiatric and neuro-psychological disorders of childhood and adolescence. With this objective the SYNPIA (Italian Society of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry) launched last May 11, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its foundation and as part of the European Mental Health Awareness Week 2022, the National Day for the Promotion of Neuro -development.
"Targeted and careful interventions are needed to promote neurodevelopment - explained Professor Elisa Fazzi, President of SINPIA and director of the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit ASST Spedali Civili and University of Brescia - to increase protective factors and reduce the impact of risk factors. Interventions directly to support harmonious emotional, motor, linguistic, cognitive and social development from birth to adolescence, and then interventions to support situations of family vulnerability, greater attention in all environments and life contexts in which children and the kids grow up and much more. Finally, it is necessary to guarantee targeted interventions when signs of risk of neurodevelopmental disorders are present. More and more research - concluded Elisa Fazzi - highlights in fact how positive neurodevelopment, from conception to young adulthood, is fundamental in determining the good physical and mental health of individuals".
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