So, a week ago today I spent my Saturday at an Adoption and Education Forum. It was sponsored by the Adoption & Foster Care School Awareness Project and had some big name speakers such as Joyce Maguire Pavao and Hollee McGinnis. Boris Gindis was there as well and I have some notes from his talk too. I had not heard of him before but he was interesting. Anyhow, these are just my notes.
Points were made that were interesting, educational and thought-provoking. I’m still sorting out what I believe, feel and need to learn about. Feel free to do the same.
BORIS GINDIS: www.bgcenter.com
His talk was titled “Educational Issues in Children Adopted from Overseas Orphanages”
- language mediates experience. ex. a child can learn boiling kettle is hot by touching and burning hand (that’s a direct and unmediated experience) or she can learn by a parent saying, “Don’t touch. This is hot.” That indirect and mediated.
- Children in orphanages have had more unmediated learning and when exposed to education are not always ready to benefit by mediated learning. He says education must be rebuilt and re-mediated first.
- He noted that more school-age children, or “older” children (children older than age five) are being adopted. In 1995, 3% of all adoptions were of “older children” and now it’s 21% of adoptions.
- The swiftness at which children lose language when adopted is astounding. Even those who can read and write in native language still have a high and rapid language attrition process.
- 99% of adoptive families do not speak the language of their child’s birth country.
- A child of three will lose most expressive language in the first three mos. Receptive language may last a bit longer but is generally lost within a year.
- He says, in an article he distributed, “Language Development in Internationally Adopted Children,” originally published in China Connection (A newsletter for New England Families who have adopted children from China – which I write for as well), the following (about children born in China). “They are monolingual upon arrival (Chinese only) and after several months are monolingual again, only this time in English. He stresses that thinking that these children are bilingual is an “erroneous” approach, especially from an educational approach.
- Why is language loss so rapid?
- 1. Initial level of language is low
- 2. Incentive to keep language isn’t there
- 3. Children are practical. New language coming in takes up “linguistic pace”
- 4. Negative attitudes of life before adoption. When adopted, everything is new and language is a link to old life which, if from an orphanage can be a reminder of suffering (even unconsciously in children). In a sense the language of birth country can remind a child who has been in an orphanage of time when they were hungry, cold, etc. He said, “Mere sound of language can be a PTSD trigger.” In fact, he said, having a daycare or nanny who speaks native language when parent does not will impede bonding and attachment with parent (that was a surprise to me).
- For “older children” losing language, behavior regresses. A six-year old who could read and write in native tongue can lose language and behave like a two-year old. In fact, he said, children with most advanced and developed native tongue can have most difficulty behavior wise. Again, if you realize that language mediates experience, the loss of it means the loss of associated skills which impact behavior.
- With children adopted at “older ages” the actual readiness for school and the actual “school” age can be very different.
- It is a mistake to treat IA (internationally adopted) children in same category as ESL learners. ESL learners have mediated learning in home environment usually while IA learners do not.
- Remediation is recommended in home, school and in community.
- One shocking statistic was that the age at adoption (six mos. vs. six years, for example) didn’t matter much as ALL children IA are “at risk” with learning. His take on the reasons for this are as follows
- 1. premature birth (2/3 of all children pre-mature will have learning issues. Adoption status is not relevant)
- 2. exposure to drugs and alcohol
- 3. birth may have been difficult
- 4. exposure to malnutrition
- 5. neglect
- 6. abandonment
- 7. deprivation
- 8. trauma – in fact, the number of children adopted internationally with Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms is much larger than it is for same-age peers without this experience
The education of teachers is “paramount” he said because so far, most training is “sensitivity based” and provided by adoptive parents. However, he said, “a full assessment of differences in educational means to assess needs” is needed.
He suggested parents put a statement in IEP (individual education plans) saying something such as, “Professionals must learn specificity of children and adapt to children” and list articles, courses, workshops, etc.
He also told schools to remember that unlike many parents adoptive parents tend to be “more educated, prepared, middle class, mature, part of support groups, taking courses, reading a lot and are better prepared than school in general knowledge of their child’s educational needs. Also, they know their legal rights and it would be best for schools to cooperate with these parents.”
Stay tuned for notes from the other speakers (next blogs) and my thoughts. I welcome your comments!
