SmartStart: Home-Based Cognitive and Language Remediation Program for Internationally Adopted Children
Children of different ages adopted internationally are often at risk educationally. Deprived of essential learning experiences in orphanages, children are indeed disadvantaged and may have cognitive and language problems moving to more advanced levels of learning after adoption. What can be done to put these children on a fast track to catch up with their peers?
The answer in many cases is an early, well-planned, focused, and systematic cognitive and language remediation at school, in the community, and at home.
The SmartStart program, created for children ages 3 to 8 by an educational psychologist Dr. Carol Lidz with participation of Dr. Boris Gindis, is a useful tool for any family with young children. It offers traditional family activities and games, which parents are invited to make more meaningful and remedial for their children without taking the fun out. These activities are not randomly picked; they are selected to reflect what is currently known about best practices in promoting cognitive and social development of young children. ...