Early Language Growth in Children Adopted from China: Preliminary Normative Data

Abstract

Normative data on English language development in children adopted from China are needed to determine whether a child's language skills are within normal limits or significantly delayed relative to his or her peers who are other children adopted from China. A longitudinal survey of children adopted from China, modified from a similar survey used by Glennen and Masters (American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 2002;11:417-433) with children adopted from Eastern Europe, was used to collect information on English language development from over 150 children at 3-month intervals. Preliminary results are presented here, based on 808 surveys from 141 children grouped by age at time of adoption. In general, children adopted at older ages used more words and produced longer sentences at each 3-month interval postadoption, but had further to go to "catch up" to norms for nonadopted monolingual English-speaking peers of the same age. Individual profiles illustrate the variation seen within groups, with some children performing at or above age level and others showing varying levels of "delay" relative to nonadopted monolingual English-speaking peers and/or adopted peers.

Disentangling the effects of cognitive development and linguistic expertise: A longitudinal study of the acquisition of English in internationally-adopted children

“…The background questionnaire was based on one used by Glennen and Masters (2002) and Pollock (2005). It asked about the child's history and health, their level of proficiency in their birth language, their adoptive family, their current use of English and their native language, and their current language environment.…”

“…But we know almost nothing about how they get there. While a number of researchers have studied language development in children adopted as infants or toddlers (see e.g., Glennen & Masters, 2002;Roberts, Pollock, Krakow, Price, Fulmer & Wang, 2005;Pollock, 2005), there is little work on acquisition in children who were adopted after 30 months.…”

Language Learning and the Internationally Adopted Child

“…In general, the language of typical IA children catches up with their non-adopted peers by ages 3-4 years and continues to develop at a normal rate throughout their school-age years (Glennen & Bright, 2005). Pollock (2005) found that IA children, regardless of country of origin, acquired their first 50 words at a relatively matched pace. Measuring vocabulary every 6 months, she found steady vocabulary growth among IA children, which is initially somewhat slow for younger children but expands rapidly around 9-12 months post adoption.…”

“…While their presence adds welcome variety to our already diverse classrooms and childcare centers, it also serves as a distinctive clinical dilemma for the early childhood professionals who care for them. Consider the following parent questions as illustrated by Pollock (2005):…”

Speech and language development in six infants adopted from China

“…However, when the children's language skills were compared to English language expectations, the toddlers were further behind for their age than the infants were, indicating that the toddlers had further to go to catch up. Similarly, in a much larger longitudinal survey study of 141 children adopted from China between the ages of 7 and 43 months, Pollock (2005) found that children adopted at older ages produced more words and longer sentences in the first years after adoption than children adopted at younger ages; however, the older children lagged further behind English language norms.…”