Dr. Gerard Costa Reminds Families to Reinforce to Children that they are Safe during Coronavirus Crisis for NJ.com
Posted in: College News and Events
Dr. Gerard Costa, Director of the Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health, recently noted ways families can celebrate the start of spring during the coronavirus crisis.
Amongst other ideas, the NJ.com article reminded families to spend time outside. It stated, “And don’t forget — it is often still possible to go outside while maintaining that social distance.
‘In some sense, the cabin fever concept is certainly part of what we are facing now,’ Dr. Gerard Costa, director of the Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health at Montclair State University, tells NJ Advance Media. But he cautions against isolation of a different kind.
‘In the very face of being asked to enact social distancing, we cannot mean that to include emotional distancing,’ Costa says. ‘Uncertainty is the province of adults. Children need to feel certain that they are safe.'”