Cognitive, Language, and Educational Issues of Children Adopted from Overseas Orphanages

Within the last two decades over 200,000 children from overseas orphanages have been adopted in the USA. Research findings and clinical experiences about language, cognitive, and academic issues of internationally adopted post-institutionalized children in the cultural context of North America are discussed. Theoretical conceptualizations of Vygotsky and Feuerstein serve as the major paradigm in psycho-educational and remedial components of the cultural issues of international adoptees. Native language attrition and dynamics of English language acquisition are considered in the context of transculturality. The specificity of cumulative cognitive deficit (CCD) in international adoptees is linked to prolonged institutionalization, lack of cultural mediation in early childhood, and profound native language loss. The issue of remediation is examined with an emphasis on cognitive education in the context of acculturation.