Here is a recent interview that I did with Robyn who adopted Josephine, age 8, from Liberia.
Q: What made you decide to adopt a deaf child?
A: I had asked about adopting a deaf child only because we were told that many were deaf as the result of illness and could be helped by different procedures/meds. in the US. The deaf child referred to us had been deaf since birth, so this did not apply to her! Through much prayer, we arrived at the conclusion that this was what the Lord wanted us to do. It was a very big step for us since we did not know any ASL at the time. We had to have faith and trust in God to give us what we would need to parent a deaf child.
Q: What have been the challenges?
A: Communication is not as challenging as I thought it might be, our daughter is very good at expressing herself through gestures and is happy to act out or show us what she is trying to tell us. I am very thankful for this! One of the biggest challenges with Josephine is that she definitely learns in different ways than I am accustomed to! Things that I thought would be easy for her to understand end up being difficult but sometimes it is the other way around! She also had some behavioral challenges at the beginning, which, thankfully, after 4 months, are greatly diminishing.
Q: What have been the rewards?
A: One of the biggest rewards is seeing how much she has “grown” (not just size!) in the past 4 months. Also, seeing how our other 8 kids interact with her and how much ASL they have learned in such a short time is awesome.
Q: What do you wish you had known?
A: As a homeschooling Mom, I wish I would’ve been able to find more information about homeschooling a deaf child before she arrived home. There really isn’t much out there but I seem to have found some useful information from yahoo groups.
Q: What would you like to share with families considering adopting a deaf child?
A: When we were first considering adopting Josephine, just learning ASL seemed so overwhelming, let alone all the other considerations we needed to think about! Try not to be overwhelmed and just take it one step at a time. I know, for us, most of the ASL learning happened after she got home-it really seemed to take putting it into practice to help it sink in!
Related Blogs:
Relocating for Your Adopted Child
How Laney Found Us
Could My Child Have a Hearing Impairment?