Is bilingualism good for my child?

Newsletter #53 for Internationally Adopting Parents
March 22, 2007
PAL Center Inc.

In This Issue

Adoption training courses are convenient and
most affordable way
to quickly access professional advice on the issues you
need to address.
Check out the course library,
use an opportunity to speak to the instructors

Group Consultations

Post-adoption family consultation and counceling

Next Consultation
Difficulties of the initial adjustment period
in international adoption
March 26, 2007

You receive this newsletter as a former client or correspondent of
the Center for Cognitive-Developmental Assessment & Remediation, or a former student
of the BGCenter Online School,
or a user of the International Adoption Articles Directory.

Latest Articles
from the
International Adoption Articles Directory

Jimmy Wild
Four benefits of gardening for kids
It is good to see the children's involvement with environment-friendly activities. One such nature-loving activity that children could easily get their hands on is gardening. Why should you consider gardening for your children?

From Our Database

Is bilingualism good for my child?

The question of preserving the native language of an adopted child is necessarily on the mind of any internationally adopting parent. It's not an academic issues for them: the parents need to understand their options and make an intelligent choice for their child; and they will have to organize their new family accordingly to support this decision.
To help you understand current approach to bilingualism in children at large and internationally adopted children specifically, we publish several articles from our database, as well as selected on the Internet, to give you the necessary background data.

The general research on bilingualism is explained in the article, written specifically for parents by Kendall King and Lyn Fogle, Georgetown University in the article:
Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns and Current Research

The research on the typical issues of internationally adopted children that may potentially effect their bilingualism is presented by Ruth Lyn Meese, Ph.D. in the article:
A Few New Children: Postinstitutionalized children of Intercountry Adoption

Boris Gindis, Ph.D. looks specifically at the state of native language of international adoptees and the potential consequences of international adoptee's specificity for their bilingualism. In his articles below

Cognitive, Language, and Educational Issues of Children Adopted from Overseas Orphanages

Pros and cons of keeping the native language of the adopted child

and in an online class Course BG5 - School Issues of an Internationally Adopted Child: Language, Dr. Gindis agues that:

International adoptees are not bilingual

International adoptees have delays and weaknesses in their first language

International adoptees learn English in a different way than "typical" English language learners

International adoptees live in monolingual (English only) families

This specificity of internationally adopted children makes them different from children in immigrant families and it needs to be considered by the parents in their decision about bilingualism and many other issues of their newly adopted children.