Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit pronounced difficulties in emotion regulation, manifested as excessive emotional reactivity, slow emotional recovery, and a lack of adaptive regulatory strategies, which substantially impair social adaptation and quality of life.This article focuses on emotion regulation problems in children with ASD, systematically outlining multimodal assessment approaches and integrative intervention strategies.It further proposes that future work should strengthen the integrated use of multimodal assessment data and develop a closed-loop model that links assessment to intervention, thereby advancing early screening, precise identification, and individualized intervention for emotional difficulties in children with ASD.

The period from birth to 6 years of age represents a critical window for physical and psychological development, particularly during the first three years of life.The quality of child development during this stage exerts a decisive influence on cognitive, emotional, and social development throughout the lifespan.Among the multiple factors influencing early childhood development, parent-child interaction has been identified as playing an irreplaceable central role.Grounded in neuroscience and neural network construction theory, this article reaffirms the neurobiological foundations of parent-child interaction and provides an in-depth analysis of its profound impact on children's cognitive abilities, language development, behavioral competencies, emotional regulation, and social development.Furthermore, it proposes novel paradigms and practical strategies for technology-enhanced parent-child interaction, aiming to provide theoretical reference and practical guidance for constructing a technological ecosystem that supports parent-child interaction and for implementing evidence-based early caregiving practices.

Childhood obesity has become a major public health issue, posing clear risks to children's health and future development. Effective management requires a systematic approach that includes monitoring and assessment, intervention and treatment, and long-term maintenance. National surveillance systems are essential for tracking weight trends, while interventions focus on improving diet, increasing physical activity, and strengthening health education. Long-term maintenance relies on supportive policies, financial measures, and healthy environments that help children sustain positive behaviors. In recent years, China has introduced several national policies, including the Implementation Plan for the Prevention and Control of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents (2020), and has integrated the Healthy Weight Management Action into the Healthy China Initiative. The launch of the three-year campaign on enhancing the public's weight management has further promoted a coordinated system involving government, schools, families, communities, and healthcare institutions. While progress has been made, further efforts are still needed in policy evaluation, medical-public health coordination, individual monitoring, and basic research.

Childhood and adolescent obesity has become a major global public health challenge, with a continuously rising prevalence and a trend toward younger age of onset. The escalating rates of childhood obesity significantly increase the risk of various complications, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), asthma, and obstructive sleep apnea, substantially elevating the long-term risk of cardiovascular diseases. Currently, lifestyle interventions centered on nutrition, physical activity, and behavioral modification are the first-line weight management strategies recommended by both domestic and international guidelines, with exercise intervention being a critical component. However, obese children commonly face challenges such as low levels of physical activity, prolonged sedentary time, and insufficient exercise participation, which severely limit intervention effectiveness. This review systematically elucidates the core role and underlying physiological mechanisms of exercise in weight management for obese children. First, exercise directly counteracts positive energy balance and fat accumulation through multiple pathways: increasing total energy expenditure, enhancing skeletal muscle fat oxidation capacity, improving insulin sensitivity, promoting lipolysis, and regulating appetite-related hormones. Second, regular exercise effectively ameliorates obesity-related chronic low-grade inflammation by reducing levels of pro-inflammatory factors such as C-reactive protein (CRP),interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), while promoting the release of anti-inflammatory factors like IL-10 and beneficial myokines including irisin and IL-15, thereby exerting synergistic health-promoting effects at both metabolic and immune levels. In conclusion, exercise represents an indispensable non-pharmacological intervention with dual benefits for the prevention and management of childhood obesity.

Short stature is a common reason for consultation in the field of pediatric endocrinology and genetic metabolism, and its genetic etiology has garnered increasing attention in recent years.Defects in any genes involved in the process of height growth can lead to short stature, primarily by disrupting the normal proliferation and differentiation of growth plate chondrocytes.While dysfunction of the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor (GH-IGF) axis represents a classic mechanism, multiple other factors—such as nutritional status, inflammatory cytokines, paracrine signaling, extracellular matrix, and intracellular signaling pathways—are also jointly involved in its regulation.Affected children often present clinically with abnormal body proportions, a positive family history, multisystem malformations or functional impairments, with specific genetic variants frequently correlating with distinct phenotypic profiles.Therefore, the systematic collection of phenotypic information combined with genetic testing has become a core strategy for achieving precision diagnosis and treatment of genetic-related short stature.

Chinese developmental dyslexia (DD), characterized by its unique logographic writing system, exhibits distinct cognitive and neural mechanisms from dyslexia in alphabetic languages. Recent years have witnessed a significant broadening of research perspectives on Chinese DD, encompassing its cognitive underpinnings, cross-linguistic comparisons, objective biomarkers, and ecological support systems. These advances reveal the multidimensionality and complexity inherent in Chinese DD. This article provides an overview, concise evaluation, and recommendations regarding these research developments, aiming to offer insights for future studies on Chinese DD.

Nutrition education kitchen for infants and young children is a health education place providing both feeding knowledge and practical operation for caregivers of children.Recently, nutrition education kitchen has been set up in many health care institutions in China.However, there is a lack of standardized construction and operation guidance.The Capital Institute of Pediatrics, together with experts from pediatrics, child health care and nutrition, jointly developed the Construction and Operation Standard of Nutrition Education Kitchen for Infants and Young Children, which aims to provide professional recommendations for child care professionals in different levels of health care institutions, nursery institutions, and community child growth stations.The standard includes basic requirements, construction requirements, equipment and facilities, operation management, personnel, operation services, evaluation management, which could promote the construction of nutrition education kitchen throughout the country, and standardize the operation services to strengthen infant and young child feeding.

Dyslexia is the most common type of specific learning difficulty, affecting approximately 5% to 10% of school-age children.From the perspective of cognitive psychology, this paper systematically reviews the cognitive mechanisms, assessment tools, diagnostic criteria, and intervention research on dyslexia, and highlights that the primary focus of its assessment and intervention is decoding ability (character recognition).Future efforts should integrate advances in artificial intelligence and educational technology to promote the establishment of early screening and evidence-based intervention systems.

Reading is a cornerstone of children′s cognitive, reasoning, and socio-emotional development.In the Simple View of Reading, reading is regarded as coordinated development of two components, decoding and language comprehension.Based on this framework, this article summarizes fundamental skills and developmental trajectories relevant to each of the two components.Decoding mainly depends on children′s orthographic knowledge, phonological awareness, and efficient grapheme-phoneme correspondences.Language comprehension mostly draws on vocabulary knowledge, grammar, discourse cohesion, inferencing skills, working memory, and narrative skills.Clarifying these fundamental skills helps parents, teachers, and clinicians identify children′s specific areas of difficulties and form more targeted, effective intervention plans.

The metabolism of lactose primarily relies on the hydrolytic action of lactase, whose activity is regulated by genetic factors and developmental stages.Lactose intolerance can be classified into four types: primary, secondary, congenital, and developmental, with diverse clinical manifestations.Diagnostic methods include hydrogen breath test, lactose tolerance test, and genetic testing, but there is currently no simple and reliable standardized diagnostic approach.Treatment strategies encompass dietary modifications, enzyme replacement therapy, and probiotic supplementation.This article summarizes the metabolic mechanisms of lactose in the intestine, as well as recent advances in the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of lactose intolerance.A deeper understanding of lactose metabolism is crucial for improving the management of lactose intolerance.

Parent-child attachment serves as the cornerstone of children′s emotional development.Parent-child attachment encompasses secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized types.Both attachment styles and age exert influences on children′s emotional growth, affective understanding, and regulation.In the digital era, phenomena such as "technoference", "excessive screen exposure" , and "behavioral modeling-enhanced control" pose significant threats to the formation of secure parent-child attachment, thereby impacting children′s emotional development.This paper proposes the STEP strategy, which includes Selecting appropriate digital content, engaging Together in digital product usage, Engineering well-designed timing and contexts for digital use, and Promoting parents′ interactive competencies scientifically.This framework aims to facilitate the scientific transition of parent-child attachment into the digital age and foster healthy emotional development in children.

China has a large population of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet there remains a significant gap between available service resources and the needs of these children.To enhance the capacity of the national maternal and child health system in serving children with ASD, the China Maternal and Child Health Association initiated the "Standardized Construction of a Three-Tier Autism Prevention and Intervention Network" project.The Committee on Autism Prevention and Intervention organized experts to develop this consensus, which addresses the establishment of a three-tier network and outlines standardized approaches for screening, diagnosis, rehabilitation therapy, and family support.

Neuroscience is one of the most promising research fields in the 21st century,holding significant importance for studies on child development and education.This article begins with findings from neuroscience research to outline the fundamental patterns of brain development in children.It then analyzes the impact of brain science on child development from three aspects:cognitive development,emotional development,and social development.Specifically,it examines influences on attention,types of memory,and thinking abilities within cognitive development.The article proposes educational recommendations based on neuroscience to promote healthy brain development in children,including providing appropriate environmental stimuli,fostering good living habits,emphasizing emotional support and guidance,and implementing personalized education.These suggestions aim to offer scientific guidance for the healthy growth of children.Additionally,the article offers a perspective on the future prospects of brain technology in the field of child health development.

Neuroscience, as a comprehensive discipline that studies the structure, function, and developmental patterns of the nervous system, provides a critical theoretical foundation for understanding human cognition, emotions, and behavior.The rapid advancements in neuroscience research have offered fresh perspectives on child health and development. This paper systematically explores the intrinsic connections between neuroscience and child health development, with a particular focus on the characteristics of brain development and its influencing factors during the critical period of 0 - 6 years.Research on children′s brain health development reveals the complexity of the interaction between neural development and environmental factors.Moving forward, it is essential to integrate multidisciplinary findings and develop neuroscience-based intervention strategies to create an optimal growth environment for children.

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in children is a common neurodevelopmental disorder with a steadily increasing prevalence.It seriously impairs children's social adaptability and the development of their physical and mental health.Studies have shown that if DCD is not identified and intervened early, motor difficulties may persist and have long-term negative impacts on academic performance, social functioning, and mental health.Early identification and timely intervention are crucial for slowing disease progression, improving functional outcomes, and promoting social participation.Compared to adults, children with neurodevelopmental disorders have a higher rate of comorbidity.In clinical practice, in addition to accurately distinguishing DCD from other neurodevelopmental disorders, close attention should also be paid to its comorbid characteristics to facilitate the development of more precise and individualized diagnosis and treatment strategies.

Learning difficulty is a commonly used clinical term that broadly represents a syndrome and narrowly refers to specific learning disabilities. Its etiology encompasses physiological, psychological, and environmental factors. Clinically, a comprehensive assessment is required to identify the spectrum of learning difficulties, make a diagnosis and differential diagnosis, and provide interventions and treatments. The child health care physicians play a crucial bridging role in clinical practice. Beyond assessment and referral, they must also emphasize the integration of medical and educational approaches and interdisciplinary team collaboration.

Learning difficulties are a common and complex behavioral issue in child development, characterized by significantly low academic achievement, which severely impacts children's academic performance and mental health. In recent years, with the deepening understanding of learning difficulties, the early identification and intervention of these difficulties have increasingly become an important topic in the field of child healthcare. Based on both domestic and international research evidence as well as clinical practical experience, this article systematically elaborates on the approaches and strategies for the early identification and intervention of learning difficulties, aiming to provide guidance for child healthcare professionals.

The period from 0 to 3 years of age is the most rapid phase of brain development in infants and young children, making it a critical window for early intervention. Providing high-quality family nurturing care is a crucial means of maximizing the early developmental potential of infants and toddlers. Enhancing the capacity of families in caregiving has become a key strategy for promoting the physical, mental, and comprehensive development of children aged 0 to 3. Professionals in child healthcare at maternal and child health institutions and community health centers play a significant role in guiding families in infant and toddler care. This article discusses key issues in the practice and guidance of family caregiving for infants and toddlers, emphasizing the importance of responsive care throughout the nurturing process, the mental health of caregivers, the early cultivation of socio-emotional skills in infants and toddlers, and the risks associated with screen exposure. It calls for increased attention from both primary heath care professionals and the broader society to collectively enhance the capacity of families in providing care for infants and toddlers.

The early years of life, particularly ages 0 - 8 (at least 0 - 3), have a profound influence on lifelong health and achievements. Parenting plays a critical role in shaping a child's potential. Integrating the five key nurturing care strategies for early childhood development, especially "responsive caregiving" and "early learning opportunities", into daily routines is both an art and an essential practice for parents and caregivers.The "love, talk, play, read" approach encourages that caregivers show positive emotions and love to their children, interact with them, follow children's lead and enter their world, help children focus and share their experiences, help children understand their surroundings, broaden their horizons, praise and appreciate their efforts, and guide them in learning rules, boundaries, and values. This article explores how to incorporate "love, talk, play, read" into parenting, enabling families and children to grow healthily together through interactive play and communication.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among Chinese children and adolescents has been rising over the past years, varying by age, geographical location and rural/urban areas. Primary school students have the highest prevalence of obesity, who need sufficient guidance of healthy living. The northern regions maintain the highest level of childhood obesity, but have shown a stable trend in recent years. Meanwhile, the prevalence of childhood obesity in eastern regions has risen dramatically. In both urban and rural areas, the prevalence of childhood obesity has been increasing, and the growth rate in rural areas is greater, possibly leading to a reversal between urban and rural areas in the future. The interaction of national and social environments, school and family factors, individual elements have promoted overweight and obesity in Chinese youth. The impacts of migration on regional obesity increase cannot be ignored. Lockdown and staying at home due to COVID-19 have triggered long-term influence on children′s health. The prevention and control of obesity among Chinese children and adolescents is challenging. National policies and academic regulations have been issued by government and organizations. Schools, families, communities and individuals should communicate and cooperate with each other to execute comprehensive prevention and control of obesity among children and adolescents in a systematic perspective.

Insufficient physical activity and sedentary behavior are significant factors contributing to childhood overweight and obesity. Exercise offers numerous benefits to obese children in terms of their physical appearance, physical fitness, and mental well-being, making it a crucial component of comprehensive interventions for obese children. The mechanisms by which exercise exerts its effects include reducing adipose tissue, regulating cytokine and hormone levels, improving insulin resistance and inflammatory states, and promoting brain development. Although the specific dose-response relationship of exercise in obese children has not been clearly established, aerobic exercise or a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise is considered a more reasonable choice, and the application of high-intensity interval training in obese children is gradually increasing. In the future, there is a need to develop optimal forms of exercise that are effective, time-efficient and safe, and to explore whether new methods suitable for obese adults can be adapted for use in children and adolescents.

In recent years, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been increasing annually and has become a globally recognized public health issue. Currently, rehabilitation treatment primarily focuses on educational interventions and behavioral modifications, emphasizing core symptom training, while there is insufficient management regarding children's health status. However, the health condition of children with ASD significantly impacts their prognosis. Based on this, Specialized Committee on Prevention and Treatment of Autism of China Maternal and Child Health Research Association has led the establishment of an expert panel to develop this consensus. This consensus aims to provide guidance for medical institutions at all levels, as well as for doctors, rehabilitation therapists, teachers, and parents. It advocates for the adoption of targeted, personalized, and developmentally appropriate health management strategies and family support plans based on the foundation of rehabilitation education and training,so as to support the children with ASD to reach their maximum potential.

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder(ASD) has increased significantly in recent years. The early onset and long duration of the disease require long-term and intensive rehabilitation, which imposes a great burden of disease on the affected children and their families, and also increases the social cost.The diagnosis and treatment, rehabilitation, schooling, employment as well as social reintegration have become a hot issue of concern to the whole society at present and in the future. The government's policy safeguard is crucial to support the health transition and the well-being ofASD children. In the past decade, the Chinese government has paid more and more attention to this group and developed a series of policies to provide good health services and financial support for ASD children and their families. This paper is to review the national policies related to the ASD group in recent years, describe the policy characteristics, and conduct a policy content analysis based on the World Health Organization's theoretical framework to identify the key areas and potential gaps in China's ASD-related policies so as to provide some thoughts and suggestions for the benefits of stakeholders.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children characterized by impairments in social interactions and repetitive, stereotyped behaviors, with a globally increasing incidence rate. Its etiology is complex, involving both genetic and environmental factors. This article systematically summarizes the research progress on the neuropathological mechanisms of ASD, encompassing synaptic function, neurotransmitter imbalance, neural circuit abnormalities, neuroanatomical changes, and neuroinflammation. A deep understanding of the pathological mechanisms of ASD can provide scientific evidence and guidance for the development of related clinical treatment strategies.

In recent years, the incidence of food allergies has shown an upward trend, significantly impacting children's health, growth and development, as well as their quality of life. Despite the continuous improvement in the standardized diagnosis and treatment of food allergies in children, and the increasing attention paid to the monitoring and assessment of nutritional status, there are still many nutritional issues in clinical practice.Therefore, to ensure optimal nutrition for children with food allergies, it is recommended to adopt individualized and standardized management that takes into account factors such as the child's age, immune-mediated mechanisms, types and quantities of allergic foods, nutritional status, and dietary behaviors. This management should involve collaboration among allergists, dietitians, and parents, with regular follow-ups and monitoring of outcomes.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with increasing prevalence, posing significant challenges on families and society. As the number of children with mild symptoms and normal intellectual abilities rises, new opportunities for rehabilitation and intervention have emerged. In this context, it is crucial to explore ways to enhance parental caregiving skills to promote the recovery of ASD children. This editorial introduced a novel model that integrated caregiving into family-based interventions, particularly suited for early intervention in economically underdeveloped regions of China for children with ASD. Additionally, it provided valuable insights for resource-limited developing regions.

Tummy time is defined as awake prone positioning with unrestricted movement of limbs, which is encouraged and supervised by adults. As one of the most important physical activities during early stages of life, tummy time plays a critical role in promoting gross motor and cognitive development, preventing plagiocephaly and decreasing overweight and obesity. Recently, the World Health Organization and many countries worldwide issued guidelines on tummy time for infants; however, there is no tummy time guideline in China. To fill in this gap, the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, together with experts from sports science, pediatrics and child health care, has jointly developed the Infancy Tummy Time Guideline. As the first tummy time guideline for infants under one year old in China, it aims to provide professional recommendations for both child care professionals and parents. The guideline raises recommendations from four aspects, including principles for tummy time, duration and frequency, types of tummy time activities, and monitoring and evaluation, which gives professional guidance on scientific and safe tummy time activities for infants to meet their developmental needs.

Nonsuicidal self-injury, not aimed at suicide, is more common in adolescents and has various self-injury behaviors. Now there is a lack of effective prevention and treatment methods. The types of self-injury behaviors, risk factors, and the psychological needs of patients and treatment strategies are summarized in this review.

Adolescent depression is a serious public health issue that affects the mental health of millions of adolescents nationwide. This articleoutlines the current situation of adolescent depression, the challenges in diagnosis, and then introduces the assessment process, including collecting medical history, physical examination, using scales and diagnostic tools for assessment, as well as assessing comorbidities and suicide risk. Treatment should be based on individual′s characteristics and needs, selecting appropriate treatment methods, including psychotherapy, medication, and hospitalization when necessary, inpatient treatment. Psychotherapeutic methods include cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy, while medication treatment requires careful selection of appropriate antidepressants and close monitoring of possible side effects.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children and is one of the most common childhood disorders in those with intellectual disability/developmental delay (ID/DD). Patients with this comorbidity present complex symptoms and significant functional impairments, leading to difficulties in diagnosis and suboptimal treatment outcomes. Treatment of ADHD comorbid with ID requires a comprehensive approach that includes both non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions. Overall, multidisciplinary comprehensive assessment and treatment, combined with long-term follow-up and individualized management, can help improve the quality of life and functionality of patients with this comorbidity.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder originating in childhood.Multimodal assessments not only provide a wealth of information to facilitate a more precise diagnosis of ADHD,but also lends critical support to the decision-making process involved in creating tailored and personalized therapeutic interventions.Therefore,this article delineates and examines the current status of ADHD assessment,multimodal assessment methods,and future development trends,with the aim of improving the understanding of multimodal assessment methods and enhancing the quality of diagnosis and treatment for children with ADHD through their application.

Congenital hypothyroidism is a common thyroid disease in children. If it is not screened and treated in a timely manner, it can cause irreversible damage to intellectual and physical development. In January 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued guideline on the screening and management of congenital hypothyroidism. The guideline provides detailed information on the pathophysiology of congenital hypothyroidism, neonatal screening programs and procedures, imaging and genetic diagnosis, long-term follow-up management, and evaluation. To make it more convenient for domestic pediatricians to use as a reference, this article provides an interpretation of some key contents by referring to domestic and foreign literature.

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with high incidence, low diagnosis rate and early onset of symptoms, which hinders thedevelopment ofphysical and mental health in children.Early identification and intervention of DCD can help reduce the lifelong adverse effects of the disease.However,general public in China still lacks awareness of this condition,and healthcare workers do not pay enough attention to the early screening and intervention of DCD.This paper summarizes the clinical characteristics, early screening and diagnosis of DCD, and expounds the clinical treatment of DCD from the two aspects of western and Chinese medicine intervention, and proposes the intervention treatment of integrated Chinese and western medicine for the first time, hoping to promote the development of early screening work, provide a new method for the research and development of DCD intervention in China, and improve the effectiveness of treatment.

Infants go through a transition period before fully adapting to a diversified balanced diet after being breastfed, during which foods introduced other than milk, aimed at supplementing energy and nutrients, are referred to as complementary foods. The process of introducing complementary foods is called complementary feeding (CF). The purpose and significance of adding complementary foods include not only supplementing energy and nutrients, but also promoting the development of eating skills and fine motor functions, establishing healthy eating and food-related psychological behaviors, preventing food allergies and other allergic diseases, and materializing diversity of children's gut flora. The feeding suggestions of introducing red meat paste first other than iron-fortified baby rice flour at the age of 6 months, and rapidly achieving diversified food exposure, is comply with the above principles. This article analyzes the purpose of infant CF, reviews the historical development of CF, and interprets relevant feeding recommendations based on new concepts of CF.

The early life period is a rapid period, as well as a critical/sensitive period for brain development. Proteins, long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), iron, zinc, iodine, folate, choline, vitamins A, D, B₆, and B₁₂, all play a role in key neural development processes and thus influence brain development. Different brain regions or circuits have specific critical periods during different stages of development that depend on specific nutrients. Any nutrient deficiency during this period, even if corrected with supplementation, may still affect the trajectory of brain development and result in long-term cognitive and behavioral impairment. This article elucidates the effects of major nutrient deficiencies during early life on brain development, the possible sensitive/critical timing, and the impacts on long-term cognitive and behavioral development, providing insights for the prevention and intervention of nutritional diseases and psychiatric developmental disorders, and the promotion of early childhood development.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face varying degrees of difficulties in communication, language, and social interactions.This article analyzes the basic communication abilities, language development characteristics, and social pragmatic features of ASD children from the perspective of speech pathology, introduces corresponding assessment tools and proposes intervention strategies based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF).Meanwhile, this article emphasizes the adoption of a comprehensive intervention model that involves medical, family, and school components to enhance the communication, language, and social skills of this group comprehensively, with the aim of effectively improving their overall quality of life.