This scoping review provides an overview of the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness, cognition, and academic outcomes in Latino school-aged children and identifies areas for future research. A primary search was conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and ERIC for original-research articles meeting the inclusion criteria; the search results were uploaded into PICO Portal and assessed by two independent reviewers. Of the 488 initial search results, 50 articles were eligible for full-text review, and 38 were included in this review. Most studies were cross-sectional, conducted in the United States or Chile, and included children 5–18 years old. Overall, the majority of articles reported positive associations between physical activity or physical fitness and cognitive outcomes (n = 11/12; 91.7%), and physical activity or physical fitness and academic outcomes (n = 22/28; 78.6%). In sum, this review provided consistent evidence for higher amounts of physical activity and greater physical fitness to be associated with various positive cognitive and academic outcomes in a school-aged Latino population. This scoping review also elucidated a substantial gap in the research regarding study design, with a discernible lack of interventional efforts. Future studies should test physical activity interventional strategies to optimize cognitive and academic outcomes in school-aged Latino populations.

The pandemic has exposed the many glaring difficulties inherent in implementing effective assessment and intervention for young children with neurodevelopmental delays and disabilities in our respective countries, but, especially in the US. The urgency for innovative models of assessment linked to interdisciplinary services and supports in both remote and in-vivo settings became prominent. Yet, the commitment to developmentally-appropriate practice (DAP), assessment linked to intervention, is the hallmark of ECI, whether virtual or in-vivo. However, interdisciplinary professionals have rallied during these challenging times by displaying creativity, compassion, and superb clinical judgment in providing responsive services via both virtual and in-vivo platforms to families and young children with special needs in rural and urban regions. Virtual service delivery has required judicious changes in our professional practices using more responsive and less scripted postures. Our family-centered approaches enabled us to engage with parents as partners in assessment and intervention and to plan and deliver supports that were more tailored. We believe that our “lessons learned” from the pandemic about implementing authentic assessment for early childhood intervention (AA for ECI) among parents and interdisciplinary professionals will make our ongoing partnerships with families and other professionals stronger and more enduring. We hope that this article and the step-by-step model that we have offered will help you in your own professional lives to maintain the outlook that emphasizes the importance of both authentic assessment methods & processes, whether in-vivo or virtual, for undercovering each child’s hidden and true capabilities and needs and by adhering to our enduring commitment to protect children’s inherent human rights. Keywords: authentic, assessment, best practices, virtual, remote, early childhood intervention