This post reflects the information gleaned from the
Society for Research in Child Development
While reviewing sections of the website I found a publication called:
Social Policy Report Brief.
It is an open publication and provides a wealth of information. The focus of this publication is multilingual children. This is my bread and butter, and I am always interested in new information on this topic. One section offers information about research,
It is an open publication and provides a wealth of information. The focus of this publication is multilingual children. This is my bread and butter, and I am always interested in new information on this topic. One section offers information about research,
What the Research Says
• Multilingual children in the United States
often come from immigrant families that are
disproportionately low income and are often
exposed to risks low-income families face. Many
fail to develop enough English to keep pace with
peers or lose competence in the home language as
it is gradually replaced with English.
• However, when children are raised in high-quality
language environments where both first and
subsequent languages are valued and used,
learning multiple languages has cognitive, social,
and potentially economic benefits.
• Children need to hear responsive, diverse, and
complex talk about objects and events that
interest them. Because it is best when such talk
comes from native speakers, parents should be
encouraged to speak the language(s) with which
they feel most comfortable.
• Studies of children in environments that actively
support multilingualism indicate that, if children are
spoken to (with high-quality language) and learn to
speak two languages, by about 10, they can do as
well as monolingual children in both languages and
experience the benefits of multilingualism.
Reference.
Society for Research and Development. (2014) Social Policy Report Brief. Retrieved from
Society for Research and Development. (2014) Social Policy Report Brief. Retrieved from
http://www.srcd.org/sites/default/files/documents/washington/spr_brief_2014_04_09_multilingualchildren.pdf
When reading through the website, I have come to realize that the many layers of economists, neuroscientists that are involved in this organization are far removed from the classroom. Although the research support the early childhood field, it takes time to filter down to schools and programs. Honestly, it seems like the focus is not on what is happening in our classrooms, rather on research, data, and funding sources.
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When reading any article or publication that deals with adoption, my "uh-oh" meter rises. It seems that not many researchers and or publications feel successful children who were adopted do not make it to print..One day, maybe one day someone will do a study on children adopted from orphanages and find that when the transition to a family occurs, many of the orphanage behaviors slowly fade away..Maybe, but this article references a study that proved children adopted from orphanages or hospitals have a high chance of iron deficiencies and may suffer cognitive deficits because of this. The research may be sound, but I found it odd that there were only 55 children studied. Given the number of children adopted from orphanages, institutions, foster care, and hospitals I am not sure the outcome relates well to the pool of adopted children. I would think that the participant pool would need to be larger in order for the study to be accepted. |
| Baby #2 Adopted from Novosibirsk. First medical at home gave her a clean bill of health. No iron deficiency here! |
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| Baby #1 Adopted From Siberia, Russian Far East. 13 months old. This is her first picture outside of the orphanage. Came home with exact immunizations, and a clean bill of health. No iron deficiency here |
I really enjoyed reading your post , I have learned so much from your post the first thing I learned hoy you mention in your post Multilingual children in the United States often come from immigrant families that are disproportionately low income and are often exposed to risks low-income families face. Many fail to develop enough English to keep pace with peers or lose competence in the home language as it is gradually replaced with English. I like how you compared the two low income and High and the benefit that each other can benefit from. With all the information you have learned over the last couple of week did you share this information with you children families and what did they benefit from it? I will wait for your respond post very informative.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week
Temika Mccann
I love your blog!!!!Thank you for sharing your life and the information from the society for research and child development.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the way your UH OH meter goes off when policy makers and researchers who have not been in the classroom start doing studies. I agree it can be off putting to be told something we as teachers are not experiencing in a given situation such as English as a second language among children adopted or immigrated to the US. I too felt that the small sample size of the study was not a good representation of children adopted from orphanages and brought to the US. Like you I hope a larger study can be done and the success stories told.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the read about the orphanages. I have friends who have adopted. 1 from China, and another friend who has adopted from Ethiopia and ?Sudan? I think. The child from Ethiopia is an older child the others were babies. Benji is doing great, but is really behind and mom is having to homeschool him because he speaks very little English. He has had a HUGE transition! They other two babies do not remember anything about the orphanges and are thriving as they have been with their new parents since infancy.
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