Child neurodevelopment and the quality of ecological environments for children in the Amazon

Abstract

The purpose was to analyse the relationship between the quality of the ecological environment and the neurodevelopment of children in an Early Childhood Education Unit in the Amazon. Seventy children from two to five years participated, assessed by the Denver-II neurodevelopment screening test, in three times in the year. The Home Environment Resources Scale, the Family Poverty Index, the Neighbourhood Quality Instrument, and the ECERS-R Scale were applied in two times. The results agreed with the hypothesis that there would be a longitudinal increase in the percentage of children with normal score according to Denver-II and in the environmental quality scores. The findings showed that children belonging to families with a higher poverty rate and poorer environmental quality obtained a higher percentage of delay in neurodevelopment. The explanatory-model showed that the most influential variables in suspect a delay were poverty index, few joint activities with parents, and the low interaction among the neighbours and, at school. However, family poverty is a multidimensional risk factor that cuts across ecological contexts.