I've been reading a bit about families who have used baby sign language to communicate with the children they adopt from abroad, and I think it can be a useful tool to help you bridge the language gap. There was a story about one family who used it with the children that they adopted from Russia in a Michigan newspaper earlier this month.

Baby sign, as it is sometimes called, is about two decades old. The basic idea behind it is that learning... more

I had suspected for some time that my little guy had forgotten all his Russian. But several events of the last few weeks have confirmed that, if it is not gone, it has definitely been packed away in long-term storage.

A bit of background for those of you new to this blog. My little guy was a few months shy of his fifth birthday when he came to America about 18 months ago. His spoken Russian was limited and babyish, in no small part because most of his front teeth, top and bottom, were rotted or missing. Another child in the orphanage did most... more

I got a bit of good news about my younger son last week. It's just strange how long it took me to feel good about it.

My little guy, who came here from Sakhalin Island just short of his fifth birthday, has been going through a series of evaluations to see if he qualifies for an individualized education plan. The verdict last week: He doesn't.

I should have been jumping up and down, right? No disabilities that affect his ability to learn. I probably should have expected this from all that he has piled into his head since arriving here... more

A policeman came to school last week for the "Don't Talk To Strangers" talk. It's an annual thing in our schools and nicely tailored to each age group, which means they add in tips about Internet strangers as the kids get older.

But as an adoptive mother, I keep feeling that one piece is missing from the talk. I mean, after all, 18 months ago, I was a total stranger to my younger son. And he was not only encouraged to talk to this stranger, he was told to take the stranger's hand, leave the only place he had ever known, get on a plane... more

Of all the things that I have enjoyed about being an adoptive mom, listening to my kids as they acquired a new language has been among the tops. I recently discovered another adoptive mom of two from Russia who is reveling in her children's journey through language as much as I do, and I want to share her thoughts with you.

Deborah is a writer and teacher who is trained in music and speech science. The mom of two pre-schoolers adopted late last year, she blogs at "The Adoption Adventure".

She... more

Heidi, over at the Adopting A Sibling blog, put up a smart, seven-part post on 10 tools for bridging language issues with an internationally adopted child a while back. It is a wonderfully informative read and it brought back a lot of the tricks I used with my two kids.

First a word of background. I speak five languages in addition to English (French, Italian, German, Japanese and Russian,... more