title: Internationally adopted children in the early school years: relative strengths and weaknesses in language abilities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses in language and verbal short-term memory abilities of school-age children who were adopted from Eastern Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children adopted between 1;0 and 4;11 (years;months) of age were assessed with the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool, Second Edition (CELF-P2) and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Fourth Edition (CELF-4) at age 5 and ages 6-7. Language composites and subtests were compared across time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All CELF-P2 and CELF-4 mean scores fell in the average range. Receptive composites were 102.74 and 103.86, and expressive composites were 100.58 and 98.42, at age 5 and ages 6-7, respectively. Age of adoption did not correlate to test scores. At ages 6-7, receptive language, sentence formulation, and vocabulary were areas of strength, with subtest scores significantly better than test norms. Verbal short-term memory and expressive grammar subtest scores were within the average range but significantly worse than test norms. A high percentage of children scored 1 standard deviation below the mean on these 2 subtests (27.3%-34.1%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Eastern European adoptees had average scores on a variety of language tests. Vocabulary was a relative strength; enriching the environment substantially improved this language area. Verbal short-term memory and expressive grammar were relative weaknesses. Children learning a language later in life may have difficulty with verbal short-term memory, which leads to weaknesses in expressive syntax and grammar.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glennen
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption; D001076:Aptitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D007807:Language Tests; D012574:Schools