One key question is whether children experiencing difficulties across the different domains are the same children, and whether difficulties in development cluster together to create multiple difficulties for some children. Descriptive analysis was conducted on sub-groups of children who were identified as being ‘at risk’ of poorer developmental outcomes.
Children were initially selected on the basis of the number of delays displayed on the Denver Developmental Assessment. Children with zero to two delays were categorized into one group, while children with three or more delays were categorized into a second group. Overall, there were no differences between the two groups in terms of whether they had spent more than six months in an institution, or on their age at adoption.
Nine children who displayed four or more delays on the Denver Developmental Assessment were selected for more detailed analysis. BPVS scores were available for six of these nine children, and five of the six children were behind their chronological age in language comprehension. However, mother and fathers ratings on the SDQ did not reveal high levels of problematic behaviour across any of the domains. Analysis of parental reports of functioning and behaviour indicated that three of the nine parents reported difficulties for these children with attention and impulsive behaviours, and four of the nine parents reported problems with social attachment-related behaviours. At this stage, developmental difficulties observed among this group of children do not appear to cluster with other behavioural or emotional problems. None of these children were adopted before six months of age: three were adopted between six months and one year, three were adopted between one year and 18 months, and three were adopted after 18 months of age. Thirty-two children were selected out who scored one standard deviation below the mean (standardised score < 86) on the British Picture Vocabulary Scale. These children were on average 2.2 years behind their chronological age in language development (s.d. = 2.20). Almost 70% of the parents of this group of children reported high levels of distractibility, although mothers’ and fathers’ ratings on the SDQ did not reveal high levels of problematic behaviour across any of the domains. These findings suggest that there may be some link between attention difficulties and poorer developmental outcomes, as measured by the BPVS. Statistical comparison of the 32 children who scored one standard deviation below the mean on the BPVS with children who scored higher revealed no differences in terms of their age at adoption, or the length of time they had spent in institutional care.
Finally, based on parental report of ongoing problems, children were classified according to the number of difficulties they persistently displayed, as indicated in the table below. It is important to consider that altogether parents were asked about their child’s adjustment across eight different domains of
behaviour/functioning (70 items in total), and it is expected that most children will display at least a small number of difficulties.
Table 5.25: Categorisation of children according to their number of ongoing difficulties, based on parent-report
Number of on-going difficulties Percentage of Number of
all Children Children
No ongoing difficulty 25 45
One to five difficulties 49 89
Six to nine difficulties 12 21
Ten or more difficulties 14 25
Children within each of these groups were compared on the number of Denver Developmental Delays (if under 5 years), their BPVS scores, their age at adoption, and whether they had spent six months in an institution.
Comparison of the four groups on the number of Denver Delays indicated no differences across the groups. Furthermore, no differences emerged across the four groups on their BPVS scores. However, clear
differences emerged across the four groups on their age at adoption and whether they had spent six months or more in an institution. Specifically, a higher proportion of children who had spent less than six months in an institution than expected exhibited no ongoing difficulties. In terms of age at adoption, a higher proportion of children adopted after 18 months of age exhibited ten or more ongoing difficulties, and a lower proportion of children adopted before six months of age had no ongoing difficulties. These findings are summarized in the table below.
Table 5.26: Comparison of the number of ongoing problems, according to age at adoption and whether child had spent six months in an institution (table shows percentage of children)
Comparison Variable Number of ongoing difficulties Statistical
Difference
None One to Five Six to Nine > Ten
Six months in an institution 18 49 15 17 42% with no
difficulties – higher
Less than six months in an institution 42 49 4 6 than expected
Adopted Less than 6 months 60 30 3 7 60% with no
Adopted 6 – 12 months 24 59 7 10 difficulties –
Adopted 13 – 18 months 21 48 19 12 higher than expected;
Adopted older than 18 months 6 51 17 26 6% with no
difficulties lower than expected
In terms of formal diagnoses, two children in the study had severe neurological disorders, three children were diagnosed with disorders on the Autistic Spectrum and one child was diagnosed with a specific language difficulty. Five of these children were attending special schools.
Key Findings
• The majority of children under five years of age are functioning well for their age. Almost 60% of the children indicated no developmental delays. Many of those who did display some developmental delay had one or two difficulties. Twenty-two percent of children exhibited three or more developmental delays, indicating more serious problems.
• Analysis of language development in children over five years, as measured by the British Picture Vocabulary Scale, indicates that overall, the adopted children are doing less well than a comparison sample of Irish-born children.
• Comparison of the adopted group and Irish-born group on standardised measures of non-verbal
reasoning (over five years) and self-concept (over eight years) indicated no statistically significant differences.
• Almost one-quarter of the parents reported that their child had experienced delays in language development. This may be expected during early language development, as children only have been exposed to the language of their birth country prior to adoption. However, for 13% of the children, some language difficulties appear to have persisted beyond early childhood into middle childhood.
• Parental reports of children’s behaviour, and emotional and social development highlighted an array of behavioural and developmental challenges that confronted parents, following the adoption.
• Over half of the parents reported sleeping-related difficulties, and 45% reported feeding-related problems. These difficulties were transient in nature, and had persisted for only a minority of children.
• Almost one-quarter of the children displayed an oversensitivity to sound, and this difficulty was ongoing for two-thirds of these children. Thirteen-percent of the children resisted being held or hugged, and this difficulty was ongoing for one-third of these children.
• Just over 10% of children experienced gross motor difficulties, and a similar proportion displayed difficulty with fine motor difficulties. These difficulties were ongoing for three-quarters of these children. • Half of the children displayed specific behaviours that were associated with attachment-related issues.
Of most significance, one-third of the children exhibited indiscriminate friendliness – however, this problem was ongoing for less than half of these children.
• About one-fifth of the children exhibited poor eye contact, and this problem was ongoing for two-thirds of these children. One-fifth of the children also displayed clinginess to parents – this pattern of
behaviour had persisted for less than half of these children.
• Parental report of behaviour and functioning at home and in school indicated a range of difficult
behaviours, which presented problems for children at home and in school. While many of the behaviours under consideration (e.g. easily distractible, temper tantrums) are appropriate at certain developmental levels, analysis of the proportion of children for whom various behaviour patterns are ongoing indicate more serious problems.
• Significantly, one-quarter of the children had ongoing difficulties with distractibility, and sustaining attention. Other difficulties such as over-activity, temper tantrums, rocking and repetitive movements, anxiety, and indifference to punishment and reward were less common, but nevertheless persistent among 8-12% of the sample.
• Findings from the parent-completed Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire revealed low levels of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and problems in the peer domain. The highest indication of difficulty occurred in the hyperactivity domain (both mother and father report), which concurs with parental reports of problem behaviours relating to distractibility, over-activity and attention difficulties. Overall however, levels of difficulty are similar to what is expected in a community sample of children.
• Seven children had been formally diagnosed with a developmental disability. Two children in the study had severe neurological disorders, three children were diagnosed with disorders on the Autistic
Spectrum, one child was diagnosed with a specific language difficulty, and one child was diagnosed with a mild learning disability. Five of these children were attending special schools.
• Analysis of children’s developmental outcomes according to the length of time they spent in institutional care, and their age at adoption yielded clear significant differences in terms of parent-report of post- placement adjustment. Overall, children who had spent longer than six months in an institution had higher levels of post-placement difficulties than those who had spent less than six months in an institution. Children who spent longer than six months in an institution were more likely as a group to exhibit ongoing difficulties, than children who had spent less than six months in an institution.
• A more fine-grained analysis considered children’s post-placement adjustment according to their age at adoption. Children adopted after 18 months of age had higher levels of post-placement feeding, behaviour, social and language problems than those adopted before six months of age. Few differences emerged between those adopted after 18 months and those adopted between six and 18 months of age, in terms of levels of post-placement difficulties.
• In terms of persistent difficulties, a higher proportion of children adopted after 18 months of age exhibited ongoing indiscriminate friendliness, difficulty saying words incorrectly and distractibility problems than children adopted before 18 months of age.
• In terms of other differences, comparison of children according to whether they had spent six months or longer in an institution revealed no differences in their levels of language comprehension. Comparison of children by age at adoption indicated that those adopted between 6 and 12 months of age had significantly higher language comprehension scores than those adopted after 18 months of age, but no differences emerged across the other groups.
• No differences emerged in any comparison on the number of delays, as measured by the Denver
Developmental Assessment, or on any sub-scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. One exception to this occurred when ratings of hyperactivity (based on SDQ mother report) revealed higher levels of hyperactivity among those adopted after 18 months of age than those adopted before 18 months of age.
• Specific analysis of children who are identified as “at risk” in a number of ways (based on their BPVS score and number of Denver Developmental Delays) indicated few clear patterns according to their age at adoption, or the length of time in institutional care.
• However, analysis of clusters of children according to the number of persistent parent-reported adjustment difficulties clearly indicated that a higher proportion of children adopted after 18 months of age than expected exhibited more ongoing problems.
The chapter is concerned with how children are getting on at school, both academically and socially. The findings are based on data from the Teacher Survey along with information from parental interviews. Children’s academic performance, from the perspectives of both parents and teachers is discussed. Information from primary and secondary school students is presented separately. The section ‘Support in School’ focuses on children and young people who are experiencing difficulties and the supports and services available to them in mainstream schools, and for a small group, in special schools. Children’s social and emotional development is discussed from the teachers’ perspective; this section includes data from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) along with teachers’ comments. A further section is devoted to teachers’ reports on how issues around adoption are dealt with in school, particularly issues such as conversations on adoption in class, issues around difference in appearance and young peoples’ experience of discrimination at school. Teachers’ opinions are then augmented by information gathered from parents on their children’s performance and experiences in school. Finally, teachers’ perspectives on the services and supports available to them are discussed.