Donna Macomber

Language development of internationally adopted children: Adverse early experiences outweigh the age of acquisition effect.

UNLABELLED We compared English language and cognitive skills between internationally adopted children (IA; mean age at adoption=2.24, SD=1.8) and their non-adopted peers from the US reared in biological families (BF) at two time points. We also examined the relationships between outcome measures and age at initial institutionalization, length of institutionalization, and age at adoption. On measures of general language, early literacy, and non-verbal IQ, the IA group performed significantly below their age-peers reared in biological families at both time points, but the group differences disappeared on receptive vocabulary and kindergarten concept knowledge at the second time point. Furthermore, the majority of children reached normative age expectations between 1 and 2 years post-adoption on all standardized measures. Although the age at adoption, age of institutionalization, length of institutionalization, and time in the adoptive family all demonstrated significant correlations with one or more outcome measures, the negative relationship between length of institutionalization and child outcomes remained most robust after controlling for the other variables. Results point to much flexibility and resilience in childrens capacity for language acquisition as well as the potential primacy of length of institutionalization in explaining individual variation in IA childrens outcomes. LEARNING OUTCOMES (1) Readers will be able to understand the importance of pre-adoption environment on language and early literacy development in internationally adopted children. (2) Readers will be able to compare the strength of the association between the length of institutionalization and language outcomes with the strength of the association between the latter and the age at adoption. (3) Readers will be able to understand that internationally adopted children are able to reach age expectations on expressive and receptive language measures despite adverse early experiences and a replacement of their first language with an adoptive language.

Academic Achievement Among Juvenile Detainees

The literature has long pointed to heightened frequencies of learning disabilities (LD) within the population of law offenders; however, a systematic appraisal of these observations, careful estimation of these frequencies, and investigation of their correlates and causes have been lacking. Here we present data collected from all youth (1,337 unique admissions, mean age 14.81, 20.3% females) placed in detention in Connecticut (January 1, 2010–July 1, 2011). All youth completed a computerized educational screener designed to test a range of performance in reading (word and text levels) and mathematics. A subsample (n = 410) received the Wide Range Achievement Test, in addition to the educational screener. Quantitative (scale-based) and qualitative (grade-equivalence-based) indicators were then analyzed for both assessments. Results established the range of LD in this sample from 13% to 40%, averaging 24.9%. This work provides a systematic exploration of the type and severity of word and text reading and mathematics skill deficiencies among juvenile detainees and builds the foundation for subsequent efforts that may link these deficiencies to both more formal, structured, and variable definitions and classifications of LD, and to other types of disabilities (e.g., intellectual disability) and developmental disorders (e.g., ADHD) that need to be conducted in future research.

Sources of Heterogeneity in Developmental Outcomes of Children With Past and Current Experiences of Institutionalization in Russia: A Four-Group Comparison.

The present study sought to compare 4 groups of age- and gender-matched children—(a) those reared in institutions for children without parental care in Russia; (b) those raised by their biological parents in Russia; (c) those adopted to the United States from Russian institutions; and (d) those born in the United States and raised by their biological parents—on indicators of cognition, language, and early learning. In addition, we aimed to compare the effects of the length of time spent in an institution, the age of initial placement in an institution, the age at adoption, and pre-institutional risk factors (i.e., prenatal substance exposure and prematurity and low birth weight) on the above-mentioned outcomes in the 2 groups of children with institutionalization experiences. Our results confirm previous reports demonstrating negative consequences of institutionalization and substantial ameliorating effects of adoption. They also underscore the complexity of the effects of institutionalization and adoption, showing that they are intertwined with the effects of pre-institutional risk factors.

Mentor Programming for At-Risk Youth

Mentor–protege relationships have existed throughout history in politics, music, business, and entertainment—Aristotle mentored Alexander the Great, Bach was a mentor to Mozart, Richard Branson was a protege of Freddie Laker, Sir Anthony Hopkins was mentored by Sir Laurence Olivier, and Harry Potter had his Dumbledore. The origin of the term for sage advisor has been traced to the period when Odysseus left his son, Telemachus, under the care of his wise friend, Mentor, when he departed for the Trojan War (Lytle 2009). Mentors are trusted friends, counselors, or teachers, acting as positive role models, who share their knowledge with a younger, less experienced person. Modern mentoring programs have strong face validity—they seem like they should work, instinctually we believe they can work, and, furthermore, we want them to work (Roberts et al. 2004). Mentoring is said to be one of the most popular social interventions in American society (Rhodes and DuBois 2008), and there exists a “good news only” mindset within the media that tends to undercut the impact of any legitimate empirical findings (Rhodes and Lowe 2008). The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) supports mentoring as an effective way to prevent at-risk youth from becoming involved in delinquency (http://www.ojjdp.gov/). An estimated three million youth are in individual mentoring relationships in the U.S. In the twenty-first century, federal funding for mentoring programs has increased considerably with appropriations by Congress of

Evaluating a social problem solving intervention for juvenile detainees: Depressive outcomes and moderators of effectiveness.

100 million (Rhodes and DuBois 2008).

Hyperlexia in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study reports findings from the administration of a social problem-solving training (SPST) intervention to juvenile detainees in the Connecticut Youth Detainee Program. SPST is a cognitive behavioral intervention that teaches children and youth how to more effectively cope with interpersonal stress and conflict. In the current study, we tested whether SPST could decrease depressive symptoms in a sample of detained adolescent offenders. The study used a randomized-control design with detention staff administering the intervention. The results showed that SPST, as a main effect, was not more effective in reducing depressive symptoms than treatment as usual. However, the effectiveness of SPST was moderated by fluid intelligence. Juvenile detainees with high intelligence scores were most likely to benefit from SPST compared to treatment as usual. It was surprising that, for those with lower intelligence scores, SPST increased depressive symptoms relative to treatment as usual. These results help fill a critical need for intervention effectiveness data on juvenile detainees and indicate that SPST may not be useful for reducing outcomes such as depression.