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Early Intervention for Your Child

Chat Transcript... continued

with Rita Taddonio, CSW
Director of SPARK (Child Development program) at Spence-Chapin

Rita: About 15% of the population exhibits delays so it doesn't matter if a child is adopted or a birth child. If there are concerns they should get an evaluation - better check it out earlier than later. All the research points to the fact that the earlier the intervention the more effective. It doesn't cost anything (well, you pay for it in your taxes), and it is non-intrusive to the child - they think they are playing.

Question: I thought EI was family friendly, and great. My daughter loved the young therapist who came to our home once weekly with a bag of toys. However, I don't think they understood what her specific problems were. Children adopted from foreign countries after age 2 have a very difficult time acquiring new language from what I understand. I think they have very unique, specific problems that need perhaps to be addressed in unique, specific ways. Am I wrong about this?
Rita: This is an important point - as I noted in the language chat we did. It is important for parent to make sure that whoever evaluates their child is familiar with issues like sensory integration, the likelihood that internationally adopted children are delayed in their native language.

Question: Rita, are there books on the subject of unique speech problems for internationally adopted children?
Rita: No books I know of, but there are articles - if you email me , I can pass them on to you.

Question: What if the evaluator doesn't have a clue about internationally adopted children? What do you do?
Rita: Have them talk to someone like me who can fill them in on the best practice methods for evaluating internationally adopted children, or call someone like me to refer you to someone in your area that I know understands international adoption issues. A quick suggestion on the language issue: go to bgcenter.com.

Many thanks to all who participated!

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