Pragmatic Language Performance of Children Adopted Internationally.

Purpose Pragmatic language is important for social communication across all settings. Children adopted internationally (CAI) may be at risk of poorer pragmatic language because of adverse early care, delayed adopted language development, and less ability to inhibit. The purpose of this study was to compare pragmatic language performance of CAI from Asian and Eastern European countries with a nonadopted group of children who were of the same age and from similar socioeconomic backgrounds as well as explore the relationship among emotion identification, false belief understanding, and inhibition variables with pragmatic language performance. Method Using a quasi-experimental design, 35 four-year-old CAI (20 Asian, 15 Eastern European) and 33 children who were not adopted were included in this study. The children's pragmatic language, general language, and social communication (emotion identification of facial expressions, false belief understanding, inhibition) were measured. Comparisons by region of origin and adoption experience were completed. We conducted split-half correlation analyses and entered significant correlation variables into simple and backward regression models. Results Pragmatic language performance differed by adoption experience. The adopted and nonadopted groups demonstrated different correlation patterns. Language performance explained most of the pragmatic language variance. Discussion Because CAI perform less well than their nonadopted peers on pragmatic communication measures and different variables are related to their pragmatic performance, speech-language pathologists may need to adapt assessment and intervention practices for this population.

False Belief Performance of Children Adopted Internationally.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore relationships among adoption, individual, and family variables on false belief performance of children adopted internationally (CAI). METHOD: Using a quasiexperimental design, thirty-five 4-year-old children adopted from Asian and Eastern European countries before age 2 years were compared with a U.S. group of 33 nonadopted 4-year-old children on a standardized English-language measure, 3 false belief tasks, and a go/no-go inhibition measure. RESULTS: The adopted group differed significantly from the U.S. nonadopted group in expressive language and false belief performance. For the adopted group, inhibition measures were significantly correlated with core language scores. Core language scores and number of older siblings predicted false belief performance. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to children who are not adopted, language competence and living with older siblings positively influenced social understanding in CAI. Because CAI experience interrupted language acquisition and live with fewer older siblings, they are at risk of having weaker language competence and social understanding in their adopted language. When working with CAI, practitioners should assess social communication, language competence, and inhibition skills. They should assist adoptive families in providing socially mentored opportunities for their children to observe and interact with older children.

Emotion identification from facial expressions in children adopted internationally.

PURPOSE: Children adopted internationally who are exposed to institutional care receive less social interaction than children reared in families. These children spend their preadoptive life with individuals from their birth country and are adopted into families who may look and interact differently. The presumed patterns of limited social stimulation and transition from ethnically similar to ethnically and culturally different social interactions may affect these children's ability to accurately identify emotions from facial expressions. METHOD: Thirty-five 4-year-old children adopted from Asia and Eastern Europe by U.S. families were compared with 33 nonadopted peers on the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy, Version 2 (DANVA2) Faces subtests. Correlation and regression analyses were completed with preadoption (adoption age, foster care exposure), postadoption environment (postadoption care duration, number of siblings, socioeconomic status), and individual (chronological age, gender, language competence) variables to determine related and predictive variables. RESULTS: The nonadopted group demonstrated better emotion identification than children internationally adopted, but no region-of-origin differences were found. English language performance was correlated with and predicted 20% of the variance in emotion identification of facial expressions on the DANVA2. CONCLUSION: Children adopted internationally who have stronger language ability tend to be more accurate in identifying emotions from facial expressions.

Communication development and differences in children adopted from China and Eastern Europe.

PURPOSE: The communication development of children adopted from China and Eastern Europe was compared by region of origin at 6 and 12 months after adoption. METHOD: Twenty children, recruited before or immediately following their adoption, participated in the study. Measures were collected between 2 and 6 months after adoption (Time 1) and between 12 and 14 months after adoption (Time 2). The children's ages ranged between 11-22 months and 22-34 months, respectively. Parent-reported vocabulary comprehension and expression and behavioral communication assessments were administered. RESULTS: No significant differences between region of origin were found at Time 1. At Time 2, significant group differences in expressive language performance were found, with children adopted from China and Eastern Europe demonstrating different patterns of English language development. CONCLUSION: Early prelinguistic measures may provide prognostic indicators for later English language development. Children adopted from different countries where they are initially exposed to different birth languages may acquire English differently.

Vietnamese children and language-based processing tasks.

PURPOSE: Vietnamese children's performance on language-based processing tasks of fast-mapping (FM) word-learning and dynamic assessment (DA) word- and rule-learning tasks were investigated. METHOD: Twenty-one first- and second-generation Vietnamese preschool children participated in this study. All children were enrolled in 2 Head Start programs in a large city in the Midwest. All children had passed a developmental assessment and routine speech, language, and hearing screenings. All participants were taught 4 invented monosyllabic words in an FM word task, an invented monosyllabic suffix rule (-po) meaning "a part of" in a DA rule task, and 4 invented bisyllabic words in a DA word task. Potential relationships among task performances were investigated. Receptive task performances, expressive task performances, and task totals were added to create receptive total, expressive total, and accumulated performance total (APT) scores. Relationships among receptive total, expressive total, and APT scores were also investigated. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between FM word, DA rule, and the receptive total. The expressive total correlated with all task total scores, APT, age, and modifiability scores. Modifiability scores correlated with the two DA tasks, expressive total, and the APT. Findings indicate that FM word and the expressive total were positively correlated with most of the other tasks, composite totals, and age. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Performance on language-based processing tasks may provide valuable information for separating typically developing Vietnamese preschool children from their peers with language disorders. Practitioners should consider linguistic characteristics of target stimuli. Comparisons should include task, receptive, expressive, and APT.

Frameworks of Education: Perspectives of Southeast Asian Parents and Head Start Staff.

PURPOSE: Interviews with Southeast Asian families and Head Start staff, participant observation of family and staff conferences, observations of teacher-child and parent-child interactions, and a review of all written Head Start information given to parents were used to gain information regarding how Southeast Asian parents, children, and Head Start staff make sense of early childhood education, their roles in child learning, and the identification of disabilities or learning problems. METHODS: Nine Southeast Asian families and 10 children were participants. One Vietnamese and 3 EuroAmerican Head Start staff members participated in a series of two or three semistructured individual interviews. Additionally, 3 families were observed during scheduled conferences with Head Start staff. Each child was observed at Head Start during meals, center time, and outdoor play time. All literature routinely given to parents was analyzed. Ethnomethodology (the study of how participants make sense of their world) was used in collection and analysis of the data. The constructs of organizational culture (Schein, 1987, 1992), independence/interdependence, and power/distance relationships were used to help to make sense of the data themes. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Both families and staff were unaware of differences in their beliefs and values in the areas of education, parenting, child learning, and disability, which led to confusion and misunderstanding. All early childhood staff need to be aware of their underlying assumptions and how these may affect their interactions with children and families who may have different assumptions and expectations.