Medical and developmental care for adopted children

The medical care of adopted children is a growing field, now recognized as a specialty by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Each year, more clinics are specializing in the needs of adoptive families.

Research about the needs of adopted children is also growing. Our children can benefit as studies are published and shared with adoption professionals and families. We can be thankful for this research and use it to help our children, while at the same time trusting in the Lord who knows them completely and has plans for them.

A sampling of what we have learned:

Developmental delays: Internationally adopted children are likely to be delayed in their language and motor development, depending on how long they have lived in institutions. These delays are natural because of the lack of human interaction, medical care, nutrition and mobility. The research is hopeful, indicating that many of these children can recover. It is also practical. For example, children in orphanages may not have the experience of crawling on their hands and knees. Some adoption medical professionals recommend that parents encourage their children to crawl before they walk so that the left and right brain hemispheres may form connections that will facilitate language learning.
Attachment and fetal alcohol syndrome: More serious but less common medical conditions for adopted children include attachment disorders and fetal alcohol syndrome and other long-term issues. Learn what you can before you decide to adopt a child who is at high-risk for these challenges. It may take years of hard work to help children who have been hurt in these ways. God will come alongside you as you advocate and sacrifice for your children. And there are new resources to help you. Get help from adoption professionals or read books such as Becoming a Family: Promoting Healthy Attachments with Your Adopted Child by Lark Eshleman, for example.
Hearing and speech: Untreated ear infections in orphans are common and may lead to speech and language delays. Jill Barnhart of the International Adoption Clinic of the University of Alabama recommends a thorough hearing evaluation by an audiologist. If you notice speech delays you’ll want to visit a speech-language pathologist to assist you.
Education: Be ready to spend extra energy helping with your child’s education, either through state-sponsored school services or other ways of customizing their education such as homeschooling. Many internationally adopted children are eligible for Early Intervention Services which are available to help young children at risk for developmental delays; call your school district to see about assessment.
Laundry and life: We have supplemented our sons’ education with special activities designed just for them. A Mind at A Time by Dr Mel Levine has been helpful, especially in the area of short and long-term memory. Dr Levine suggests that students whisper under their breath when receiving verbal instructions in order to help retain the information in short term memory. My boys and I have practiced this with instructions for doing their laundry.

In order to help my sons’ long-term memory, we talked about converting words into pictures and breaking things into manageable categories. For the laundry exercise, we divided the task into sorting, washing, drying and folding categories. Each category had associated pictures like a
scoop of detergent going into the washing
machine. They found it fun as well as helpful.
Faith: When I start to get anxious about my sons’ development and education, I think about Paul writing, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are all in the Lord’s hands and he has a plan for each of us. Our responsibility is to be faithful as we teach and encourage our children. It is God’s responsibility to work out his plans for their lives. Thankfully, he is good and very capable to fulfill every promise he has made to us and to our children.
More resources: The University of Minnesota has a directory of medical professionals offering special services for adoptive families.
If you do not have access to a pediatrician who specializes in adoption, gather information from other sources and share it with your pediatrician. Adoptive Families magazine has a free downloadable adoption medical guide that includes recommended evaluations checklist to take to your child’s first doctor visit.
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