Hearing parent adopt deaf child?

marcyp06 said:
How do you feel about a hearing person adopting a deaf child? ?
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I feel REALLY good about it, as a hearing person who's adopted an amazing wee deafie!! :rockon:

Incorporating her culture is a bit tough, we've been slackers, especially with the language, given our focus on ASL and English, although she has some basic phrases down and we try to remember the holidays and fortunately we can find good Chinese food easily enough.
 
GrendelQ said:
I feel REALLY good about it, as a hearing person who's adopted an amazing wee deafie!! :rockon:

Incorporating her culture is a bit tough, we've been slackers, especially with the language, given our focus on ASL and English, although she has some basic phrases down and we try to remember the holidays and fortunately we can find good Chinese food easily enough.
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GrendelQ I understand that-- my little guy is of Latino/Hispanic mix... right now he gets his Spanish from Handy Manny!! Luckily I can cook up some great Mexican food :) As for holidays, this year we're going to celebrate "Dia de los muertos" (day of the dead) instead of Halloween... and I'm looking at other holidays for him...

Sort of fun learning about TWO new cultures huh?? :) :)
 
AdamsMomma and Grendel, I love to read about the various cultural exposure you're giving your kids and think they're very lucky! :wave:
My husband's sister has two young girls from <East> India and they are very involved in the international adoption and Indian communities in their area; the girls do Indian dancing.
 
dogmom said:
AdamsMomma and Grendel, I love to read about the various cultural exposure you're giving your kids and think they're very lucky! :wave:
My husband's sister has two young girls from <East> India and they are very involved in the international adoption and Indian communities in their area; the girls do Indian dancing.
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Thank you!!

Funny 'cultural' experience story-- the other day I asked A-Monkey a question and I SWEAR to you-- and I have a witness-- instead of saying "yes" he said "Si!" and kept walking on-- like it was common place. My friend and I nearly fell out of our chairs laughing. (I almost suspect he said 'yessy' as he puts ee on the end of everything 'uppy, opee (open) etc... and we missed the Yes part but it was cute!)

We call him my Hispanic Panic!!!
 
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Adamsmomma, such an advantage your little boy will have will all the languages!
I took Spanish for many years and majored in it in college and it has helped me at times. But even if the additional languages one has besides their original language, are not used often, I still think learning about various cultures broadens a person's perspective and help learn to think about things in a different way.
 
dogmom said:
:wave:
Adamsmomma, such an advantage your little boy will have will all the languages!
I took Spanish for many years and majored in it in college and it has helped me at times. But even if the additional languages one has besides their original language, are not used often, I still think learning about various cultures broadens a person's perspective and help learn to think about things in a different way.
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They looked at me crazy one time at school when I said I hoped he'd be tri-lingual one day... English, ASL and Spanish!

I can still read Spanish, but can NOT for the life of me keep up in a converstation w/it anymore- and I grew up in areas where it was fluent... I LOVE the language to me, it's pretty-- just like I really love to watch someone proficient in ASL-- it's a beautiful language as well-- The English we use now-- not so much.
 
trilingual - that's great - and much more representative of the rest of the world! too bad you got such looks!
I still often pick up local Spanish-language papers to read them to help me retain and improve.
When I took Arabic I found it fascinating and wish I could take it again-
 
dogmom said:
trilingual - that's great - and much more representative of the rest of the world! too bad you got such looks!
I still often pick up local Spanish-language papers to read them to help me retain and improve.
When I took Arabic I found it fascinating and wish I could take it again-
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I want him to be proud of who he is -- Deaf and Hispanic... no reason he can't celebrate both!
 
I love parents who expose their children to different cultures and languages. It will allow their kids to grow up with more awareness in diversity. :)
 
shel90 said:
I love parents who expose their children to different cultures and languages. It will allow their kids to grow up with more awareness in diversity. :)
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Thanks Shel-- I try w/Adam... I want him to be as culturally rounded as I was- I was lucky that my mom exposed me to as many different cultures as she did-- both personally by the people in our lives and environmentally by taking me to different festivals, etc... really has helped me as an adult :) :)
 
shel90 said:
I love parents who expose their children to different cultures and languages. It will allow their kids to grow up with more awareness in diversity. :)
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:gpost: yes that is so true, and is SUCH an invaluable quality in society today.
 
Hi, I'm in the process of adopting a deaf child from China. My first daughter is from China and hearing but medicals needs. I actually tried to adopt and eight year old deaf son from China a little over two years ago but they denied me due to the age difference and the fact that the boy had been institutionalized his entire life. In China there is little education for deaf children housed in orphanages. There is some available for those outside but little inside. Needless to say, adopting a deaf child has been in my heart ever since. We have so much to offer here, and our community has much in support for deaf children and adults. We have two deaf schools within four hours of us, but here the first attempts are to mainstream the child with an interpreter into the primary school system. We have regular deaf community gatherings in this region so I am comfortable with the mainstream school attempt first. Any thoughts? I'm also looking for children's story books in sign so any info would be helpful. Thanks. Denise
 
Denise China said:
Hi, I'm in the process of adopting a deaf child from China. My first daughter is from China and hearing but medicals needs. I actually tried to adopt and eight year old deaf son from China a little over two years ago but they denied me due to the age difference and the fact that the boy had been institutionalized his entire life. In China there is little education for deaf children housed in orphanages. There is some available for those outside but little inside. Needless to say, adopting a deaf child has been in my heart ever since. We have so much to offer here, and our community has much in support for deaf children and adults. We have two deaf schools within four hours of us, but here the first attempts are to mainstream the child with an interpreter into the primary school system. We have regular deaf community gatherings in this region so I am comfortable with the mainstream school attempt first. Any thoughts? I'm also looking for children's story books in sign so any info would be helpful. Thanks. Denise
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My son has some sign books printed by Galludet that I really like, they're basic signing not stories... any ASL kids books would be a great start!! Also 'Signing Time' DVDs... those are good too... (since they're not animated my son doesn't really want to watch, but they help me LOL)

We're just learning more ASL at this time since my son was in an oral intesive dayschool for 2 yrs (he's 2.5) everyone has told me surround him with ASL immerse him as much as I can... there's a sign language thread on here that would be a great place to find answers... just searching is a good way too...

Congrats and good luck! How exciting!!!
 
Thanks! I was concerned about the visual as well. Let's face it, little kids like animation. I've found a few kids movies with closed captioning, and some story books in ASL, but for the younger kids all I can find is Mother Goose in SE. I'm going with ASL at the suggestion of some local professionals so SE might work later but initially I want to keep it consistent. I've contacted the NAD and they gave me Harris Communications and Galludet as resources. A few of my daughter's movies have closed captioning but of course that involves the ability to read first, which won't be there right away. Let me know if you come across anything else. I really appreciate it. Denise
 
Never mind - just figured it out!

"Hey, by the way, I've tried all ways to get the photos I've loaded to show in the post responses but they aren't coming up. What am I doing wrong? thanks"
 
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Yes, we have two deaf schools within four hours of here. Grant it, not the closest but doable. We are in the four corners region - there is one in ABQ and one in Col Springs. I'm still going to try the mainstream school system first though. The county we're in provides sign language interpreters/assistants to students during all aspects of their education from Pre school to college. I'm not adopting a child from China just to bring them home and send them away again. I do understand in some cases that may be warranted but not a first choice for our family. Particularly considering the child will most likely be three or four when they come home and will have gone through more than enough in their little life by the time I get them home.
 
Denise China said:
Yes, we have two deaf schools within four hours of here. Grant it, not the closest but doable. We are in the four corners region - there is one in ABQ and one in Col Springs. I'm still going to try the mainstream school system first though. The county we're in provides sign language interpreters/assistants to students during all aspects of their education from Pre school to college. I'm not adopting a child from China just to bring them home and send them away again. I do understand in some cases that may be warranted but not a first choice for our family. Particularly considering the child will most likely be three or four when they come home and will have gone through more than enough in their little life by the time I get them home.
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I understand I can't fathom the idea of not having Adam at home everyday w/me... I was lucky I've had him since he was 1 day old... thru foster care.

You're in my favorite part of the world!! I lived in Denver/Boulder when I was 8-10 LOVED it my dream to get back there someday!!
 
Denise China said:
Thanks! I was concerned about the visual as well. Let's face it, little kids like animation. I've found a few kids movies with closed captioning, and some story books in ASL, but for the younger kids all I can find is Mother Goose in SE. I'm going with ASL at the suggestion of some local professionals so SE might work later but initially I want to keep it consistent. I've contacted the NAD and they gave me Harris Communications and Galludet as resources. A few of my daughter's movies have closed captioning but of course that involves the ability to read first, which won't be there right away. Let me know if you come across anything else. I really appreciate it. Denise
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Honestly I love the 3 signing DVDs that Baby Einstein has. Marlee Matlin signs in them and they're great and rwally keep the little ones attention. For older kids and adults ASLfilms.com has some great movies all done in ASL!
 
Adamsmomma said:
I understand I can't fathom the idea of not having Adam at home everyday w/me... I was lucky I've had him since he was 1 day old... thru foster care.
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Since 1 day old! You are sooo lucky (and your adorable Adam is, too!) , how I would love to have had that first year.
 
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