When my husband, scott, and I were preparing to adopt our daughter, Sue Mai, we were told to expect a number of developmental delays because she had spent time in an orphanage. We were assured that this type of delay is common in such children because they do not get the individualized attention and nurturing needed for normal growth and development.
When we met Sue Mai for the first time, she was indeed delayed. At 15 months, she was unable to pull herself to a sitting position and was still crawling and trying to stand up on her own. She still drank formula from a bottle and was not holding the bottle by herself. And outside of baby babble, she was not yet speaking words.
The adoption agency assured us that this was not unusual, and that the majority of children catch up very quickly. But at the same time, the pediatrician traveling with us suggested we look into an early intervention program to help Sue Mai catch up to other children her age. She pointed out that by age two, a child should be using over 50 words, and she expressed doubt that our daughter would be using that many words by the time she turned two.
