The Copenhagen Consensus Conference 2016: children, youth, and physical activity in schools and during leisure time

From 4 to 7 April 2016, 24 researchers from 8 countries and from a variety of academic disciplines gathered in Snekkersten, Denmark, to reach evidence-based consensus about physical activity in children and youth, that is, individuals between 6 and 18 years. Physical activity is an overarching term that consists of many structured and unstructured forms within school and out-of-school-time contexts, including organised sport, physical education, outdoor recreation, motor skill development programmes, recess, and active transportation such as biking and walking. This consensus statement presents the accord on the effects of physical activity on children's and youth's fitness, health, cognitive functioning, engagement, motivation, psychological well-being and social inclusion, as well as presenting educational and physical activity implementation strategies. The consensus was obtained through an iterative process that began with presentation of the state-of-the art in each domain followed by plenary and group discussions. Ultimately, Consensus Conference participants reached agreement on the 21-item consensus statement.

Designing emergency preparedness resources for children with autism

Emergency preparedness is a fast developing field of education driven by the numerous disasters worldwide with more recent notable examples including the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the U.S in 2001, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsuanmi, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the London bombings in 2005, the earthquake in China in 2008, the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and more recently the Paris terror attacks in 2015. Whilst there is a growing literature focusing on the psychological implications of such disasters on children, there remains a lack of focus on disability, particularly neurodevelopmental disabilities such as autism. Due to the nature of autism it is likely that this group will have specific needs during disasters and emergency situations and may find such situations more stressful than their typically developing peers, as such they can be considered a more at risk group in such events. In this paper, I consider the need for an intervention for a nearly wholly neglected group in the field of education for emergency preparedness, children with autism, and report on phase one of a project aimed at designing resources for this group.