LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
SURVEY
Children Adopted from Ethiopia
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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT SURVEY Children Adopted from Ethiopia |
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Little is known about the course of language development in young children adopted from Ethiopia. Anecdotal reports and recent studies of children from China and Eastern Europe indicate that most of our children acquire English with little or no difficulty within a year or two following adoption, although there may be initial delays relative to non-adopted monolingual English-speaking children. However, some children experience significant speech-language delays and ultimately require speech-language therapy. How long should it take for an internationally adopted child to “catch up” with their peers? What about those who don’t catch up on their own? When should we intervene? Is there any way to predict which children are most likely to need extra help?
Speech-language pathologists and early intervention specialists are increasingly involved in assessing the communication skills of internationally adopted children, and in many cases providing language stimulation or speech therapy services. Unfortunately, these professionals have little normative data available for interpreting the performance of adopted children on speech-language tests. Instead, they are left to compare their performance to that of non-adopted monolingual English-speaking children (obviously an unfair comparison) or to make subjective judgments based on anecdotal evidence. There is a critical need to develop guidelines for determining whether a child’s language skills are within normal limits or significantly delayed relative to their peers (that is, other internationally adopted children). Recent studies of children adopted from China and Eastern Europe (Glennen & Masters, 2002; Pollock, 2005) have provided preliminary normative data for these two groups, but there has been virtually no research on children from Ethiopia. Because of the unique circumstances of each birth country (language, access to health care, quality of pre-adoption care, reasons children are available for adoption, etc.), results from one group may not be generalizable to another.
Following the same methods used in previous studies of children adopted from Eastern Europe (Glennen & Masters, 2002) and China (Pollock, 2005), we are conducting a longitudinal survey of speech-language acquisition in children adopted from Ethiopia. The objectives are: 1) to plot growth curves for vocabulary acquisition and sentence length during the first two years following placement; 2) to determine the nature and extent of speech-language problems, if any, that persist beyond the early years; and 3) to determine the influence of a variety of factors (such as country of origin, age at time of adoption, medical and developmental status) on speech-language development.
We are looking for volunteers who have adopted children from Ethiopia. If your child is between 9 and 42 months of age and has been home less than 12 months, you are eligible to participate. Ideally, we would like you to begin participating when your child has been home less than three months. You will be asked to complete a survey telling us about your child’s background, medical and developmental information, and speech-language skills. The survey will be repeated every three months until your child reaches approximately 3 years of age.
Note: We need everyone’s help to make this project successful! In order to provide a complete picture of speech-language development in this population, the study must include children who are not currently experiencing any difficulties as well as those who are.
This is an excellent opportunity to be part of a groundbreaking project that will ultimately benefit all internationally adopted children, including those yet to come.
Dr. Karen Pollock is a professor and child language researcher at the University of Alberta and also the mother of a daughter adopted from China. See http://www.rehabmed.ualberta.ca/spa/phonology for more information on Dr. Pollock’s other research.
1.To complete a survey for the first time, you will need to download the following file:
Note: If you are given the option to "Open it" or "Save it to disk," the preferable choice is to save it to disk. You will then have the file so that you can print it again in the future.
2. In addition, you will need to obtain a copy of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI). You may do this by:
a. sending an email request to karen.pollock@ualberta.ca
b. calling (780) 492-5980 - if no answer leave a message with your complete email or postal address
If you would prefer to receive a paper copy of the survey and MCDI in the mail, or if you have questions about the study or need further information, please contact:
Dr. Karen Pollock
Professor and Chair
Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology
University of Alberta
2-70 Corbett Hall
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G4
Canada
Phone: (780) 492-5980
Email: karen.pollock@ualberta.ca