Post 1: Natalya Age 18 (Adopted From Russia)

Natalya, age 18. Adopted From Russia:

Background: Three months after my birth, my 16-year old mother committed suicide and I was placed in an orphanage near Yessentuki, Russia. The orphanage I was in was horrible. I was neglected and malnourished. In Yessentuki I never went outside, for three years I had never seen  the sun or been in fresh air. The nurses in the orphanage were either untrained or irresponsible, maybe even abusive. When I (and the other kids) would cry, they would give me Vodka to calm me down. They would smoke in front of me, never picked me up, just took care of the basic necessities. I was fed a broth that lacked whatever nutrients I apparently needed, that’s why I was so malnourished when I came America. The only thing that was good was no one was ever beaten like in many Russian orphanages. My mother drank and smoked when she was pregnant with me, I didn’t have fetal alcohol syndrome but I do have fetal alcohol damage from that. In the Yessentuki orphanage, I was fed vodka to calm to me down, and now I drink a lot in the United States. Now, my liver doesn’t work anymore. The doctors say it’s from extreme alcohol exposure and intake as a child, regardless of what it’s from I have to get surgery on my liver in November. I have also had one lung surgery from my own smoking and my mother smoking while pregnant. The one thing, in fact probably the worst thing, about being adopted is I have no medical records. I’ve had a lot of medical issues that obviously trace back to my childhood in Russia but there is really no information on my medical past. They have no idea who my mother was or what issues she had, other than what they can tell from my own health. I am predisposed to a lot but the doctors can only really work with what they see in my present state of health, which is a big concern. They say I may need lung surgery as well, I do smoke pretty heavily. At the age of three I was adopted by my parents and I came to San Francisco. The adjustment was really hard. I was sick for a whole year, I didn’t go to school or really do anything. I was so sick. The biggest thing that I struggled with was malnourishment, and that’s what caused a lot of my health issues when I first came to the United States. My body was in complete in shock.

After being adopted and coming the United States I had a lot of emotional issues as well. My identity was screwed up as a child, I didn’t know who my adopted parents were and I felt that I couldn’t trust them. Sometimes I’ll think about it, and I’ll get emotional about things when my adoption comes up. When I fight with my mom sometimes she’ll say she wishes she didn’t adopt me which really hurts.

Experience In School:

   

In lower school I was pretty blind to my experience, it didn’t really come up. I’ve been to four different high schools in the past three years. The first high school I went to was private and I think that while my life was less turbulent then that’s when I had the most emotional pain. I was cutting myself pretty bad and there were a lot of friends who were concerned, eventually the word went up to the administration and they talked to me. I felt like the issue was dealt with in a pretty insensitive way, and this was at a private high school. A classmate reported me for having severe depression and the administration did deal with it. I feel like it was dealt with in a pretty screwed up way. They wanted to place me. They didn’t look deeply into my whole experience at all, just at what they saw at the surface. And once again this is at a private high school.  

Insight:

Natalya’s experiences are not uncommon for children who experienced her level of deprivation and neglect. In child development there are two common categories: Experience Expectant and Experience Dependent developmen Natalya’s experience through the course of her life impacted her emotional, social, physical,  intellectual and psychological development. We know that timing of experience plays a significant role in brain development, particularly elements that occur after birth in regards to exposure to connections with people and sensory experiences. The ages in which Natalya was institutionalized are the most highly sensitive stages in an infant's development, known simply as the ‘sensitive period’. “Timing of experience of is critical to healthy development”, and this explains Natalya’s emotional and psychological developmental difficulties. This can be demonstrated by the Guiding Principles of Experience/Development:

1. Experience is the product of an ongoing, reciprocal interaction with the environment and the brain.
2. Individuality is the product of both personal experience and biological inheritance.

   

    Natalya’s ‘individuality’ can be tied to these psychological findings. Fetal alcohol exposure, malnutrition, and neglect as an infant has contributed to Natalya’s emotional and psychological issues. Natalya suffers from incredibly low-self esteem and has a poor sense of identity. “I’m sort of a ridiculous person and I definitely put up a show surrounding myself because I’m insecure.” In Romania’s Abandoned Children, it is established that “Emotional responses, and social behavior, as well as basic sensory and motor capacities are shaped powerfully and, in many cases, permanently, during these sensitive periods.” (Romania’s Abandoned Children 9). Subsequently, it can be assumed Natalya’s emotional responses in relationships with peers and authority figures, such as parents and teachers, have been altered by early adversity.

Addressing Complex Issues:

Given what has in regards to establishing and understanding the complex issues with institutionalized children in a school settings, how can these subtle and often times complex issues be better established and dealt with among elementary school teachers?

    Through academic research and interviews of professionals in a variety of field, from Social Work to Neuropsychology, I have learned what can go be good and bad when addressing the complex behaviors of children with such experiences. The longer you've been in an orphanage the more severe your behavior will be you. These children have lived through many developmental phases and you won’t have received sufficient care. Adults care, touch, and these are the recipe for a healthy child, and these kids don’t get this.   Dr. Carina Grandison, a developmental neuropsychologist says:

If you are a little baby and you are hungry, all babies get hungry, all babies cry when they get hungry, at least initially because they have learned that my crying will prompt somebody to come and feed me, so you learn that hunger cry, food, its good. so you start to have a little feeling that you're crying has power. Now, if you are in an orphanage, you are very likely not to be fed on your hunger signals, but you’re very likely to be fed because it’s the shift of the caretaker, and it's their clock. It’s time to be fed, your crying will have nothing to do with getting a bottle. So you will learn, in the first scenario, that your signals are messages to the world, and you will learn in the second scenario that your signals are irrelevant. so your brain expects different things in the two different scenarios, in the first scenario you learn, in bigger ways, that your signals can have an affect on the scenario, that your feelings are queues that people respond to, and your needs can be communicated and responded to. Vs. you get the message that your signals won't be heard, and very many times you’ll stop giving signals, so you lose a powerful place in the world, you don’t think you don’t matter. You get evidence all the time that it didn't matter when you voiced a need. this is a fundamental principle that will start to guide your life, did you have a say? or are you mute?

A child with this experience won’t learn that it’s feelings are ques that people respond, so you stop giving signals. You lose a powerful place in the world, you courage, self-esteem, self-worth. It can be detrimentally, emotionally.

Takeaways:

    The biggest strategies that need to be remembered when working with kids in similar situation/with similar experience are as follows:

• Patience
• You need to empower the student
• Empower through punishment-Have punishments which show the impact of the action, showing the child that they matter, have an impact and a voice.
• Never leave the child alone
• *For Teenage Students* If a child with low self-esteem is being reprimanded, do it privately. Often a child will be egged on or encourage with classmates witnessing.
• During times of crisis/tantrum (for younger student): never leave child alone.