The Deaf Mentor Program: Benefits to Families

Abstract

Most Deaf children are born to hearing parents, who have little to no experience with Deaf people, their language, or their culture. These parents struggle with how to raise a Deaf infant who responds primarily to visual rather than auditory information. A program called Deaf Mentors was developed to connect these hearing families with a Deaf adult who is trained in how to effectively help parents learn visual strategies and if desired sign language to facilitate early language acquisition. This study, using a grounded theory methodology , investigated the perceptions of hearing families who had a Deaf Mentor. Results found that these Deaf Mentors helped families create a context that provided the Keys to a High Quality of Life for Deaf Children. Importantly , the program provided a new perspective that allowed families to understand that their Deaf child was different but not broken.