Language Retention and the International Adoptee

Source: http://time.com/3593064/an-infants-brain-maps-language-from-birth-study-says/

The infant's brain retains language that it hears at birth and recognizes it years later, even if the child no longer speaks that language.

Vladimir Godnik—Getty Images

A new study study reveals that an infant’s brain may remember a language, even if the child has no idea how to speak a word of it.

The finding comes from a new study performed by a team of researchers from McGill University’s Department of Psychology and Montreal’s Neurological Institute who are working to understand how the brain learns language.

As it turns out, the language that an infant hears starting at birth creates neural patterns that the unconscious brain retains years later, even if the child completely stops using the language. The study offers the first neural evidence that traces of so-called “lost” languages remain in the brain.

Because these lost languages commonly occur within the context of international adoptions—when a child is born where one language is spoken and then reared in another country with another language—the researchers recruited test subjects from the international adoption community in Montreal. They studied 48 girls between the ages of nine and 17 years old. One group was born and raised speaking only French. The second group was bilingual, speaking French and Chinese fluently. And the third was Chinese-speaking children who were adopted as infants and later became French speakers, but discontinued exposure to Chinese after the first few years of life. They had no conscious recollection of the Chinese language. “They were essentially monolingual French at this point,” explained Dr. Denise Klein, one of the researchers, in an interview with TIME. “But they had been exposed to the Chinese language during the first year or two of their life.”

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Hopscotch Adoptions Attends Cultural Competency Workshop

Hopscotch Adoptions staff attended a workshop on Cultural Competency last week, presented by B. Todd Posey, M.Ed., LPCS, LCAS. This article seemed particularly relevant in how, as professionals we have daily opportunities to relate information to families regarding all aspects and considerations of international adoption that can be impacted by culture; customs, biases, language, belief systems , etc. Families often find it difficult to reconcile another's culture when attempting to super-impose our own culture over the other. We all have the best intentions, but work with a limited frame of reference. What makes sense in one family or country can be totally counter-intuitive in another, yet both are practical and reasonable within their own context. As parents to children from different cultures, I hope we are all working hard to respect the differences and foster a great appreciation for the "new" or "different" our children come from. How do you incorporate your child's original culture?

By Robin Sizemore, Executive Director of Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc

Culture Clash: When Should I Get My Foster Daughter's Ears Pierced?

By Rebecca from Fosterhood

When should I get my infant foster daughter's ears pierced? It was the furthest thing on my mind until case workers, friends, and strangers who identify as black began asking me about it daily. That is, they were asking me about my black foster daughter's ears, but made no mention toward my similarly-aged, white-looking (she's 1/2 Jewish and 1/2 Hispanic) foster daughter.

In talking with friends, I expressed that I do want to get my 7-month-old black foster daughter's ears pierced now (with her mom's consent), but not my lighter-skinned 3-month-old daughter. Why is that? I started to ask around amongst my white friends who echoed my involuntary, visceral response to the topic. Earrings on a black baby are adorable, but on a white baby they look was described as "cheap" or "trashy." These descriptions are always whispered in shame. Where do these stereotypes arise? How do these biases come about? And do we need to talk about it in order to undo them?
I've spent several hours searching academic literature and even the internet for a break-down of the average age of ear piercing within different cultures, but I've come up empty. My unofficial poll of the age in which parents should get their child's ears pierced goes something like this:

African-American/Black = 4-6 months

Hispanic = soon after birth

Low-income whites = toddler age

High-income whites = between age 7-10

From a health and safety perspective, no major pediatric medical association takes a stand regarding appropriate age for ear piercing nor do they indicate that it's harmful. Parents are left to make the ear piercing decision based on culture and tradition, which includes factors like ethnic background and socio-economic status.

I'd love to hear what age you got your ears pierced and how you think (or don't think) skin color and income plays an unconscious part. Most importantly, I'd like for any discussion I've opened-up to be respectful of all people's differences.

We're Home! Now What?

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