| The number of international adoptions has increased dramatically in the past decade, and Chinese children currently represent the largest group of internationally adopted children in the U.S. However, relatively little is known about their se children's course of development upon arrival in the US. This study investigated speech-language development in six children adopted from China.; The children ranged in age from 9 to 17 months at adoption. Parents completed questionnaires regarding their child's developmental and medical history, and data regarding the children's communicative development were collected approximately every 3 months during home visits made by the investigator. At age 3, outcomes in speech, language, and pre-literacy skills were assessed.; Children's longitudinal language growth was examined. Two children experienced rapid vocabulary growth immediately after adoption. The others' vocabulary levels were relatively low throughout the first year post-adoption. Two of those children demonstrated vocabulary spurts approximately one year after adoption. The remaining two children's vocabulary growth rates were relatively stable.; Communication samples collected at 6 months post-adoption were analyzed. For all children, infraphonological, phonological, lexical, and social-communicative development appeared normal, though there was wide variability in children's performance.; Outcomes at age 3 also indicated variability in children's communicative abilities. Four children scored within the average range. One child scored more than 1 standard deviation above the mean on the majority of measures, while one child scored more than 2 standard deviations below the mean on most measures. Outcomes were not predicted by any of the behaviors assessed at six months post-adoption. The child whose language abilities were below average at age 3, however, demonstrated the slowest rate of vocabulary growth.; Findings indicated that vocabulary levels reached 50 words by one year post-adoption and 400 words by two years post-adoption for the five children who scored within or above normal limits at age 3. Level of language development in Chinese prior to adoption, as well as parental concern regarding their child's language development may be sensitive indicators of English language development. The findings also support the notion of resiliency of children's language learning capacity in the context of early change in language environment. |
