If the COVID-19 outbreak is keeping you up at night, you're probably wondering how your kids are coping. Well, according to pediatric specialists at Connecticut Children's, ranked one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, the stress of this pandemic could have a negative impact on a child’s development. The good news: it doesn't have to.

"We all deal with regular stresses on a daily basis," Connecticut Children’s developmental pediatrician Robert D. Keder, MD told us. "A little bit is a good thing; it motivates us to study for a test or run a little faster in a game. Some stresses are stronger, but still bearable when we have positive protective relationships. What’s happening with COVID-19 right now falls into what developmental specialists call 'toxic stress.'"

By itself, toxic stress can negatively impact children's development—leading to challenges in behavioral and physical health—but, fortunately, this kind of stress can also be buffered by building resilience. Read on to find out how pediatricians at the only health system in Connecticut dedicated exclusively to the care of children recommend you help kids build that resilience and cope with the unprecedented Coronavirus pandemic.

Words like "mama," "dada," and "ball," may come fairly easily to many tots, but have you ever wondered how kids master more complicated concepts like verbs, adjectives, pronouns, and abstract nouns? Well, a team of researchers at NYU's LEARN Lab is eagerly looking for answers in the hopes of ultimately helping caregivers better communicate with children who have autism spectrum disorder–a condition that's often accompanied by minor to severe language delays. In order to further this important research, they need kiddos with and without the disorder to come play in the lab for an hour or so, and they're even sending the participants home with a gift card and a book.

From not being invited to the birthday party to getting called hurtful names, hearing that your child feels like they don't fit in can nearly break a parent's heart. But, as we grownups know, the things that make children different are also the things that make them special—and finding ways to celebrate that uniqueness is key to their confidence.