Studies conducted with children raised in orphanages have demonstrated that early severe deprivation can be associated with physical illness and disability, cognitive dysfunction and socio-emotional difficulties (Ames & Carter, 1992; Rutter, Kreppner & O'Conner, 2001; Behen et al., submitted). Additionally, animal studies of early deprivation, including those in nonhuman primates, strongly indicate that early postnatal neglect and deprivation may be associated with both short-term and long-term changes in brain function (reviewed in Suomi, 1997; Hofer, 1996; Kaufman et al., 2000). However, the impact of early severe deprivation on brain function in humans has not been adequately studied. This study examined language functioning in children who experienced such early deprivation as a result of being raised in international orphanages. Sixty-two participants (45 early deprivation and 17 normal controls) completed a neuropsychological battery and functional MRI language and motor tasks. Early deprivation participants were divided into a non-language impaired, language impaired, and globally impaired groups. Results indicated that the language impaired early deprivation children were significantly different from controls and non-language impaired early deprivation children with regard to language mediated tasks (e.g., verbal memory) and executive functioning. The language impaired group also had worse behavioral functioning. Additionally, the language impaired group had anomalous activation on both receptive and expressive language tasks compared to controls and non-language impaired participants.
