Homeschooling deaf child

[haknumartita]

We just adopted a little boy (4-1/2) from Ukraine who is deaf and are looking for resources to homeschool him. He joins our three older (7, 8, 10) classically homeschooled kids.

I am looking for any info or advice from people who have a classical schooling bias.

We have been teaching him signs to communicate, and our whole family is learning to cue, as we feel that is the best method to open up the world of language to him.

I'd love to know if there is a resource to teach reading with pictures. He has a very small world because of living in an orphanage (knew about 30 signs when we met him and was satisfied with the point and grunt method of communication) and I can't explain things to him that he has never seen or experienced. At least if he sees a picture, it will trigger something in his brain when we do see it in real life. A connection will be made and we'll move forward!

He has no concept of dialogue or a question and answer model. And also a very short attention span for things that are difficult. I was hoping for the majority of our day to be working on exploring his new world and working on behavior issues, but for 5 minutes a few times a day to do some reading lessons. I am sure I could make my own little cards but I was hoping to just buy something, as my time is all occupied and my energy is all used up by the end of the day.

Anyone with advice?

[cathmom]

No advice, but thank you for taking on such a special little boy!

[Merry]

I really don't have any ideas right now how to teach reading to a deaf child. I've homeschooled my six hearing children so far using phonics. However, my youngest one is hard of hearing and he did have some trouble learning the phonics until after he started speech therapy at age six. He learned the sounds for the letters that he couldn't hear on his own which helped a lot. Maybe you can find a speech therapist through the public school where you live? Also, you can sign up for the captioned media program where they have films that show how to teach reading. You should also contact Gallaudet University. I'm sure they can help you there. Your son is a fortunate boy indeed to be in a family who is willing to learn sign language and cued language for his sake.