A statewide survey of public and private schools was conducted to determine the prevalence of adoptees among children classified for educational purposes as neurologically impaired (NI), perceptually impaired (PI), or emotionally disturbed (ED). Results indicated that adopted children were overrepresented in these special education populations, accounting for 6.7% of NI students, 5.4% of PI students, and 7.2% of ED students. Implications of the findings for educational and clinical intervention are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Austad, C.C., & Simmons, T.L. (1978). Symptoms of adopted children presenting to a large mental health clinic. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 9, 20–27.
2.
Blum, H.P. (1983). Adoptive parents: Generative conflict and generational continuity. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 38, 141–163.
3.
Brinich, P.M. (1980). Some potential effects of adoption on self and object representations. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 35, 107–133.
4.
Brinich, P.M. (1990). Adoption from the inside out: A psychoanalytic perspective. In D.M. Brodzinsky. & M.D. Schechter (Eds.), The psychology of adoption (pp. 42–61). New York: Oxford University Press.
5.
Brinich, P.M., & Brinich, E.B. (1982). Adoption and adaptation. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 170, 489–493.
6.
Brodzinsky, D.M. (1987). Adjustment to adoption: A psychosocial perspective. Clinical Psychology Review, 7, 25–47.
7.
Brodzinsky, D.M. (1990). A stress and coping model of adoption adjustment. In D.M. Brodzinsky. & M.D. Schechter (Eds.), The psychology of adoption (pp. 3–24). New York: Oxford University Press.
8.
Brodzinsky, D.M., Radice, C., Huffman, L., & Merkler, K. (1987). Prevalence of clinically significant symptomatology in a nonclinical sample of adopted and nonadopted children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 16, 350–356.
9.
Brodzinsky, D.M., Schechter, D.E., Braff, A.M., & Singer, L.M. (1984). Psychological and academic adjustment in adopted children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 582–590.
10.
Brodzinsky, D.M., & Schechter, M.D. (Eds.). (1990). The psychology of adoption. New York: Oxford University Press.
11.
Cadoret, R.J. (1990). Biologic perspectives of adoptee adjustment. In D.M. Brodzinsky. & M.D. Schechter (Eds.), The psychology of adoption (pp. 25–41). New York: Oxford University Press.
12.
Dalby, J.T., Fox, S.L., & Haslam, R.H.A. (1982). Adoption and foster care rates in pediatric disorders. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 3, 61–64.
13.
Deutsch. C.K., Swanson, J.M., Bruell, J.H., Cantwell, D.P., Weinberg, F., & Baren, M. (1982). Overrepresentation of adoptees in children with the attention deficit disorder. Behavior Genetics, 12, 231–238.
14.
Erne, R.F. (1979). Sex differences in childhood psychopathology: A review, Psychological Bulletin, 86, 574–595.
15.
Fullerton, C.S., Goodrich, W., & Berman, L.B. (1986). Adoption predicts treatment resistances in hospitalized adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 542–551.
16.
Grotevant, H.D., & McRoy, R.G. (1990). Adopted adolescents in residential treatment: The role of the family. In D.M. Brodzinsky. & M.D. Schechter (Eds.), The psychology of adoption (pp. 167–186). New York: Oxford University Press.
17.
Hoopes, J.L. (1982). Prediction in child development: A longitudinal study of adoptive and non-adoptive families. New York: Child Welfare League of America.
18.
Horn, J., Green, M., Carney, R., & Erickson, M. (1975). Bias against genetic hypotheses in adoption studies. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 1365–1367.
19.
Kaye, K. (1990). Acknowledgment or rejection of differences? In dD.M. Brodzinsky. & M.D. Schechter (Eds.), The psychology of adoption (pp. 121–143). New York: Oxford University Press.
20.
Kenny, T., Baldwin, R., & Mackie, J.B. (1967). Incidence of minimal brain injury in adopted children, Child Welfare, 46, 24–29.
21.
Kirk, H.D. (1964). Share fate. New York: Free Press.
22.
Kotsopoulos, S., Cote, A., Joseph, L., Pentland, N., Stavrakaki, C., Sheahan, R., & Oke, L. (1988). Psychiatric disorders in adopted children: A controlled study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 58, 608–612.
23.
Lindholm, B.W., & Touliatos, J. (1980). Psychological adjustment of adopted and non-adopted children. Psychological Reports, 46, 307–310.
24.
McRoy, R.G., Grotevant, H.D., & Zurcher, L.A. (1988). Emotional disturbances in adopted adolescents: Origins and development. New York: Praeger.
Morrison, J.R., & Stewart, M.A. (1973). The psychiatric status of the legal families of adopted hyperactive children. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 888–891.
27.
National Committee for Adoption. (1989). Adoption factbook: United States data, issues, regulations and resources. Washington, DC: National Committee for Adoption.
28.
Nickman, S.L. (1985). Losses in adoption: The need for dialogue. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 40, 365–398.
29.
Piersma, H.L. (1987). Adopted children and inpatient psychiatric treatment: A retrospective study. The Psychiatric Hospital, 18, 153–158.
30.
Rogeness, G.A., Hoppe, S.K., Macedo, C.A., Fischer, C., & Harris, W.R. (1988). Psychopathology in hospitalized adopted children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 628–631.
31.
Schechter, M.D., & Bertocci, D. (1990). The meaning of the search. In D.M. Brodzinsky. & M.D. Schechter (Eds.), The psychology of adoption (pp. 62–92). New York: Oxford University Press.
32.
Schechter, M.D., Carlson, P.V., Simmons, J.Q., & Work, H.H. (1964). Emotional problems in the adoptee. Archives of General Psychiatry, 10, 37–46.
33.
Silver, L.B. (1970). Frequency of adoption in children with the neurological learning disability syndrome. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 3, 11–14.
34.
Silver, L.B. (1989). Frequency of adoption of children and adolescents with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22, 325–327.
35.
Simon, N.M., & Senturia, A.C. (1966). Adoption and psychiatric illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 858–867.
36.
Weiss, A. (1985). Symptomatology of adopted and nonadopted adolescents in a psychiatric hospital. Adolescence, 20, 763–774.
37.
Wender, P. (1987). The hyperactive child, adolescent, and adult. New York: Oxford University Press.
38.
Zill, N. (1985, April). Behavior and learning problems among adopted children: Findings from a U.S. national survey of child health. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Toronto, Canada.