Article

This study sought to examine the effect of environmental enrichment on the
motor skills of children adopted from orphanage settings. We investigated balance
and bilateral coordination skills in 33 internationally adopted
postinstitutionalized children
(16 males, 17 females ;
age range 8 y 5 mo-15 y 10
mo; mean age 10 y 9 mo; SD 2 y 2 mo) and compared them with 34
non-institutionalized children (21 males, 13 females; age range 8 y 3 mo-14 y 10
mo; mean age 11 y 2 mo; SD 2 y 1 mo) being raised in their birth families.
METHOD: The children were individually administered the balance and bilateral
coordination subtests of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency in a
research laboratory. Parents completed questionnaires about developmental
history, family environment, and orphanage care. RESULTS: Postinstitutionalized
children showed motor system delays compared with the non-institutionalized
comparison children (postinstitutionalized balance mean 9.44, SD 5.92, comparison
children balance mean 14.12, SD 4.39; postinstitutionalized bilateral
coordination mean 11.97, SD 5.43, comparison children mean 19.97, SD 3.97). The
length of time that children remained institutionalized before adoption predicted
balance delays (b=-1.57, t=-2.33, p=0.027) and the severity of caregiving
deprivation the children experienced correlated with bilateral coordination
(r=-0.44, p=0.013). INTERPRETATION:
These findings suggest that institutionalized
settings do not provide the early life experiences needed for the development of
age-level motor skills later in childhood and that simple environmental
enrichment following adoption is not enough to remediate skills. Children who
have experienced early institutional care may benefit from early identification
and targeted intervention.
CI - (c) The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (c) 2012 Mac Keith Press.

Langue : ANGLAIS