Speech and language development for children adopted internationally after age 3 : two clinical case studies

Of the available research on speech and language acquisition for children adopted internationally, a disproportionate amount is dedicated to children adopted after the age of three. These case studies examined the speech and language outcomes for two children adopted from Russia at ages 3 and 7. At the time of assessment, the children were 12 and 10, respectively. Both children were administered a full battery of standardized and informal tests. The first participant demonstrated speech and language outcomes that were at age expectations, despite early concerns that she would have long-term delays due to a diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Interestingly, her phonological processing was delayed, consistent with previous research. The second participant experienced significant speech and language delays, although her L1 baseline was impaired prior to adoption.