Language and Academic Skills in Children Adopted from China: A Longitudinal Study

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Clarke, Jessica
  • Pollock, Karen
  • Shurb-Beach, Amber

• Children adopted from China (CAC) undergo a unique form of language acquisition, which may put them at risk for later language difficulties. Twenty-nine North American children, adopted from China prior to two years of age, were assessed at three time points in order to identify early predictors of later language and academic outcomes. Standardized informant measures were used to assess language skills at 9-, 15-, and 24-months post adoption and to assess language and academic skills during grades K to 2 and 5 to 8. CAC who produced more words and/or longer utterances at 24-months post adoption demonstrated better language and/or academic outcomes in grades K to 2. CAC who performed better in grades K to 2 continued to do so in grades 5 to 8. Despite the additional demands on language capacities, CAC do not appear to experience more difficulties in later grades. Mean utterance length at 24-months post adoption predicted language outcomes in grades K to 2, while number of words produced at 24-months post adoption predicted academic outcomes. Mean utterance length at 24-months post adoption along with language outcomes in grades K to 2 predicted language outcomes in grades 5 to 8. Language scores obtained at 24-months post adoption may help to identify CAC at risk for language and/or academic difficulties in the early and/or later school-age years. Language scores obtained in grades K to 2 may also help to identify CAC at risk for language difficulties in the later school-age years.

• Date created

  2016-04-29

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Children adopted from China
  • Adoption
  • Language outcomes

• Type of Item

  Report

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R34746V8K

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International