We know that post-institutionalized children are
at risk for delays in
language development. In addition to an oftentimes
unknown
prenatal and early postnatal history of motor and
speech
development, your child might not have his or her
own
"conversational" partner. This is usually
the role of a personal
caretaker, who talks to the child. With the absence
of such caregiver,
the child's language will be delayed and will have
no strong foundation.
But when the first language is poorly developed in
a child, it inevitably leads to difficulties in the
acquisition of a second language. Thus, speech and
language evaluation of your internationally adopted
child on arrival in his/her native language may help
find real learning disabilities well before they surface
in the English language, and secure necessary school
support and remedial services from the start.
The issues with language development will become apparent
already in the psycho-educational assessment, and
the psychologist may give you a referral to find out
what kind of speech/language difficulties your child
has in order to be able to correct them.