two languages (was bitting or hitting when happy or excited)

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thank you for your responseJ

Hi Chiara! I'm new here also but just had to respond to your

post! I adopted my daughter from China when she was 5.

Ai…that’s a tough age…her

Chinese was pretty good at that point I guess.

She also had a very difficult time learning English and I

remember at one point she was determined that I was going to learn Chinese to

speak with her rather than she learn English! She was so cute with hands

on hips telling me off in Chinese!!

I can soooo picture that!:-)

When we told the children 4 years ago,

about our plans, my daughters first reaction was ‘but…will I then

get a book with all the words!!??...with panic in her eyes’. Whilst the

other two (her twin brother and her older sister) thought it was an adventure,

she only saw the dark side. The first 6 months she plainly refused to learn

English, and she made it very clear to us that moving to the US was

something we should not have done, as far as she was concerned. Then she

discovered we were not moving back and she slowly learned English. Her brother

read Tolkien in English after being in the country for a year at the age of 7…whilst

she still has a hard time reading books her age level.

I've also been the only one to just know in my gut that things

were " off " .

People have told me she is different

because she is so smart…but that doesn’t cover it…and people

overhere say it’s because of the move that she is different…but

that’s not the case either.

For example; at the age of two she

wandered off in the woods that belonged to a friend of ours. We knew it was

fully fenced, so we were not afraid..just curious what she would do…well,

after 20 minutes she saw us again, and turned around to walk away in a

different direction….so independent…and not afraid at all…not

looking for us….That’s not the kind of reaction I expect from a 2

yo…

I had alot of various testing done on her over the past 8 years

but I finally got the Asperger's last week and it all makes so much sense to

me! Anyway, after 6 months my daughter lost all her Chinese and didn't

have English which she had a hard time learning so there was a period of about

2 years where she was extremely frustrated by being unable to communicate.

I’m so sorry to hear that; that must

have been very tough on both sides….At home we still talk Dutch but the

kids think in English and they switch to English as soon as I am out of sight.

I want them to keep up their Dutch though, to be able to go back and

communicate with family overthere.

Now sometimes my ears " hurt " from all her

talking!! LOL

I’m glad to hear that J My daughter is talkative

but her sentences are not build up well and she mixes the two languages. I have

lived in other countries before, amongst others in Norway, where I learned Norwegian

so I fully understand the difficulties she experiences. But by now, after 4

years one would have hoped these problems were history, and that’s not

the case.

If anyone has suggestions or can relate to

this, I would love to hear it.

Thanks,

Chiara

PS I apologize for possible errors in my

writing, English is my second language.