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Written by Renee Hettich
on June 16, 2015

International-Child-Adoption-Statistics  Every child has the potential to accomplish great things.  Every child grows and develops at their own pace and in their own manner.  Every child learns in unique ways that are aligned to their individual capabilities and learning processes.  Our job as parents is to ensure an educational environment that tailors learning to our child’s special talents, exceptional challenges, and unique learning style so that our child can reach and exceed their potential.   To accomplish this task, we must work collaboratively with our child’s educators. 

 

Children who are adopted domestically or internationally often come to the educational system with unique circumstances, special instructional needs, and complex adoption issues that influence learning.  There are social/emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and neurological adoption related factors that can impact upon a child’s educational success; such as:

  • lack of genetic, medical, and social history to explain a child’s learning needs
  • age at time of adoption
  • length of time in adoptive home
  • history of abuse, neglect, or abandonment
  • prenatal exposure to drugs, alcohol, or other toxins
  • feelings of loss and abandonment
  • emerging or insecure attachment to new family
  • insufficient nutrition or nurturing prior to adoption that impacted brain development
  • learning English as a second language
  • post-institutional effects (e.g. developmental delays, neurological differences, age-deviant behaviors)

 

These factors are interconnected, interdependent, and dynamic and can result in behavioral and academic challenges that are unfamiliar to your child’s educators. 

 

Many of our children do not “fit” into the school’s pre-defined categories of special needs (e.g. attention deficient disorder, dyslexia, speech impaired).   Thus, our children are often improperly identified or misdiagnosed.  For example a child may be misdiagnosed with attention deficient hyperactivity disorder rather than properly diagnosed with a sensory integration disorder (which requires a different instructional approach).   In some instances, the schools are unable to determine our child’s special learning needs and thus label our children “quirky” or “low achievers”, or “cognitively and/or socially delayed” and ask us to accept their achievement below the potential that we know they have. 

 

Proper diagnosis of your child’s educational needs is the key to proper intervention. Just like a doctor must accurately diagnosis your medical condition to prescribe effective treatment, so must educators correctly identify your child’s educational condition to design effective interventions.   Many of our children flounder within the educational system until a proper diagnosis is made.  The inability of the school to properly diagnose our child’s unique learning needs leads to the use of ineffective educational strategies.  The lack of any diagnosis leads to no educational intervention.  In both circumstances, our child does not receive the specialized instruction needed to reach their potential. 

 

Schools are required to assess your child’s learning needs.  However, many schools do not have the knowledge, resources, or needed professionals to properly assess your child's educational capabilities and complex, multi-faceted learning needs.  If the school is unable to diagnose your child’s needs, your child has the right to an independent evaluation.  Many families access independent assessments by experts in the fields of educational psychology, neuropsychology, audiology, optomology, speech/language pathology, occupational therapy (including sensory integration sub-specialty), physical therapy, and other medical specialties.    Keep in mind that you may need to seek second opinions or multiple assessments before a proper diagnosis can be made.  Most independent experts provide you and the school with an appropriate diagnosis(es) and recommendations for educational intervention.  The majority of schools welcome these independent experts and are grateful for their knowledge of and insight into your child's unique needs.  Schools typically are thankful to have your child’s mysterious learning strengths and challenges unraveled by the experts and to have a diagnosis which they can understand and effectively treat. 

 

Only with proper diagnosis are schools able to design instructional programs and establish educational accommodations so that your child can flourish.  Our children need innovative educational adaptations and instructional techniques that are individualized, diagnosis-driven, research-validated, and outcome-based.  Specialized instructional strategies need to be employed early in your child’s education so your child can develop skills that will form a foundation for learning and teachers can develop and refine instructional techniques.  Also, due to the dynamic nature of our children’s educational needs, schools (and parents) need to monitor progress and strategy effectiveness and then adjust instruction and accommodations appropriately.

 

Family Connections, Inc. is an authorized New York adoption agency that has acheived Hauge Accreditation from the Coucil on Accreditation.  The Agency provides support for families who have adopted domestically and internationally.  The agency will be honored to support your adoption needs.  Please contact Anita or Renee at 607-756-6574 or info@adoptfamilyconnections.org.

 

 

 

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