I was just sent a link to a wonderful article on speech and language acquisition in children adopted from Eastern Europe. I've read many articles like this and the reason I like this one a lot is twofold: one, it's succinct, and two, it's immensely supportive of the adoptive parent.

It's about time! I'm feeling a little undersupported these days.

Here's the article in a nutshell:

• Children adopted from EE orphanages differ from those adopted from Asian countries: Korean adoptees are from foster homes and children from China differ in gender ratios and don't typically have the same environmental toxin exposure (like lead and alcohol) as children in EE orphanages.



• In addition, "Environmental, emotional and medical factors can impact language development in children raised in Eastern European institutions. Children have very few opportunities to make choices or express their needs. Their clothes are laid out for them, and they don't get to ask to go to the bathroom or request their favorite foods."



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• "Infants may spend many hours in cribs, and children abruptly are switched to a new room when they get older."



• Caregivers at orphanage are responsible for large numbers of children, leaving little time for individual attention and interaction. A high caregiver-to-child ratio—the average is 15:1—makes it difficult to interact...Eastern European orphanages typically are described as "eerily quiet" because children quickly learn that crying will not get them what they want."



• "Medical issues such as otitis media, poor nutrition, low birth weight, deficient immunizations, and undetected vision and hearing problems also can affect development. Because children are much more likely to be exposed to alcohol prenatally in Eastern European countries, the incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or fetal alcohol effect (FAE) is high, contributing to the impact on speech and language."

Then, the author reports, when the children are adopted, they suddenly have parents who want to give them everything all at once...and it can be very overwhelming.

Go to part 2.