RSS-Feed abonnieren
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-864215
Starting Over: A Preliminary Study of Early Lexical and Syntactic Development in Internationally Adopted Preschoolers
Publikationsverlauf
Publikationsdatum:
24. Februar 2005 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/ssl/200501/lookinside/thumbnails/10.1055-s-2005-864215-1.jpg)
ABSTRACT
To explore early language acquisition in internationally adopted preschoolers, we collected parental reports (CDI-2) and speech samples from 14 children adopted from China between the ages of 2 years, 7 months and 5 years, 1 month. Their lexical and syntactic development was qualitatively similar to infants acquiring English as a first language: nouns and social words dominated early vocabularies; verbs and closed-class items became more frequent as vocabulary size increased; and lexical and syntactic development were tightly correlated. This research has several implications for clinicians. First, it demonstrates that parental reports provide valid information during the first year after adoption and could be useful in identifying preschool children in need of further assessment. Nine to 15 months after arrival many children reached the ceiling of the CDI-2, suggesting that this instrument has limited utility after the first year. Finally, the rapid lexical and syntactic growth of these children suggests that many of them may eventually catch up with their native-born peers.
KEYWORDS
International adoption - language development - adopted children - vocabulary
REFERENCES
- 1 US Department of State .Number of immigrant visas issued to orphans coming to the US. 2003 Available at: http://travel.state.gov/orphan_numbers.html Accessed April 19 2003
- 2 Ramsey S R. The Languages of China. Princeton, NJ; Princeton University Press 1987
- 3 Gindis B. Language-related issues for international adoptees and adoptive families. In: Tepper T, Hannon L, Sandstrom D International Adoption: Challenges and Opportunities Meadowlands, PA; First Edition 1999: 98-107
- 4 Pallier C, Dehaene S, Poline J et al.. Brain imaging of language plasticity in adopted adults: can a second language replace the first?. Cereb Cortex. 2003; 13 155-161
- 5 Albers L, Johnson D, Hostetter M, Iverson S, Miller L. Health of children adopted from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. JAMA. 1997; 278 922-924
- 6 Miller L C, Hendrie N W. Health of children adopted from China. Pediatrics. 2000; 105 E76
- 7 Miller N. Bilingualism and Language Disability. San Diego, CA; College Hill Press 1984
- 8 Schiff-Myers N. Considering arrested language development and language loss in the assessment of second language learners. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 1992; 23 28-33
- 9 Anderson R. Impact of first language loss on grammar in a bilingual child. Commun Disord Q. 1999; 21 4-16
- 10 Wong Fillmore L. The Second Time Around: Cognitive and Social Strategies in Language Acquisition [dissertation]. Stanford, CA; Stanford University 1976
- 11 Snedeker J, Geren J C, Martin I. The acquisition of English by internationally adopted preschoolers: a natural experiment in language development. http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~lds/pdfs/Snedeker_Geren_Martin_2005.pdf
- 12 Fenson L, Dale P S, Reznick J S et al.. MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: User's Guide and Technical Manual. San Diego, CA; Singular 1993
- 13 Glennen S, Masters M G. Typical and atypical language development in infants and toddlers adopted from Eastern Europe. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2002; 11 417-433
- 14 Pollock K. Early language growth in children adopted from China: issues and preliminary normative data. Semin Speech Lang. 2005; 26 22-32
- 15 Bates E, Dale P S, Thal D. Individual differences and their implications for theories of language development. In: Fletcher P, MacWhinney B The Handbook of Child Language Oxford, England; Blackwell Publishers 1995: 96-151
- 16 Singer-Harris N, Bellugi U, Bates E, Rossen M, Jones W. Emerging language in two genetically based neurodevelopmental disorders. In: Thal D, Reilly J Special Issue on Origins of Communication Disorders, Developmental Neuropsychology 1997 13: 345-370
- 17 Thal D, O'Hanlon L, Clemmons M, Frailin L. Validity of a parent report measure of vocabulary and syntax for preschool children with language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 1999; 42 482-496
- 18 Berglund E, Eriksson M, Johansson I. Parental reports of spoken language skills in children with Down syndrome. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2001; 44 179-191
- 19 Johnston J R. An alternate MLU calculation: magnitude and variability of effects. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2001; 44 156-164
- 20 Brown R. A First Language: The Early Stages. Cambridge, MA; Harvard University Press 1973
- 21 MacWhinney B. The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. 3rd ed. Mahwah, NJ; Erlbaum 2000
- 22 Fenson L, Dale P, Reznick J S, Bates E, Thal D J, Pethick S J. Variability in early communicative development. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev. 1994; 59 1-173 , discussion 174-185
- 23 Robb M P, Bauer H R, Tyler A A. A quantitative analysis of the single-word stage. First Language. 1994; 14 37-48
- 24 Geren J C. Children's Understanding of Where, Here, This and Find [honors thesis]. Stanford, CA; Stanford University 2001
- 25 Snedeker J. “With” or “Without”: Children's Use of a Functional Preposition in Sentence Comprehension [thesis]. Philadelphia, PA; University of Pennsylvania 1996
- 26 Bates E, Marchman V A, Thal D et al.. Developmental and stylistic variation in the composition of early vocabulary. J Child Lang. 1994; 21 85-123
- 27 Bates E, Goodman J C. On the inseparability of grammar and the lexicon: evidence from acquisition, aphasia, and real-time processing. Lang Cogn Process. 1997; 12 507-584
Joy Geren
Laboratory for Developmental Studies
Shannon Hall, 25 Francis Ave., Room 202
Cambridge, MA 02138
eMail: geren@fas.harvard.edu