A note from a friend about her internationally adopted son reminded me that even when we think all things are going well emotionally, socially and behaviorally, our children adopted from less-than-desirable conditions can still have negative impacts from their early childhood.

Her son is finding it increasingly hard to keep up with his schoolwork as he heads toward middle school. And he’s becoming increasingly resistant to anything she tries to convince him to try harder. The school is reacting in a laid back fashion, and the boy is now about a year behind his grade level. The “wait and see” attitude is not helping this child.

His mom is trying to sort through what the problem is and who should be responsible for fixing it. She’s done a good job of love and logic parenting, putting the responsibility for working hard for his education squarely on the child. But the natural consequences of not doing your work are usually failing, and at this point the school isn’t entertaining that idea, but instead passing him along without the requisite skills.

So, what’s an awesome mom to do? Well, because of his background, I’d start to wonder exactly what it was that is impeding this boy’s ability to learn. I realize he’s become disinterested in school and the battle over homework is a lose-lose battle for so many parents and children. But there may be more here than meets the eye. Could this boy have some type of disability that’s impeding his learning?

Think about Cumulative Cognitive Deficits (CCD), a term used by Dr. Boris Gindis of the BG Center in New York. This concept addresses many of the concerns that those who have adopted children from orphanages or other placements in their infancy/toddlerhood. Dr. Gindis, whose entire practice is centered in international adoptees and their unique neuropsychological needs, believes that children who are adopted from impoverished conditions (like orphanages) may exhibit a downward trend in measured intelligence and academic achievement over time. His clinical practice has led him to believe that coming from the background of deprivation and poor environment causes a child’s cognitive functions to be dramatically lacking in a very complicated way.

In other words, children from a background of early neglect, malnutrition, lack of stimulation, poor pre-natal care and possibly trauma, will show greater difficulties with their cognitive functioning. In other words, besides RAD and PTSD, parents adopting children coming from deprived environments need to be prepared for CCD.

CCD encompasses not only poor cognitive skills, but lack of organization and ability to remember facts, as well as lack of ability to monitor their self-thinking or to self-regulate. Children with CCD may have immature behavior regulation, poor concentration and limited attention spans. And they may not be able to transfer skills and knowledge learned in one area of their life to another.

Traditionally, the education field associates CCD with children from impoverished backgrounds, being raised by poor, uneducated families. I know from my own experience that there is a prevailing thought that certain children’s “disabilities” are a result of their poor upbringing and what’s lacking in their home environment. No doubt in the cases where children are not being cared for, nurtured, kept safe or cognitively stimulated, this is true.

Oddly enough, in the adoptive/foster community, the children who suffered these early childhood insults are not living in these lacking environments any more. So, if the environments were the main influence, then it would stand to reason that the child would no longer have these deficits, right?

Well, for children with CCD, this is not necessarily true. They can’t build upon the blocks of knowledge that aren’t there. And groundwork that wasn’t laid as an infant has a tremendous impact on the child’s growing cognitive capacity. And these difficulties manifest themselves not only as obvious learning problems, but as behavior and motivation problems as well.

Around 4th grade, the academic rigor of school shifts from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”. It is at this juncture that many learning disabilities and disorders start to show. Children who are able to learn the basics, can’t apply what they learn. Children with language problems but relatively high IQs have been able to compensate, but now can’t comprehend and apply the information. And they get increasingly frustrated.

Schools report acting out behaviors, parents report children refusing to do homework or losing all motivation. The adults in the situation address the behaviors, not recognizing the underlying causes, until the child falls significantly academically behind.

But parents of adopted children with CCD are in a unique position to help their child.


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