More about Robby

Many of you know that the older children adopted from China often have special needs and you may be curious about Robby. He has a condition called atresia-microtia. What this means is his ears did not form normally. We know that he is missing the upper half of his right external ear and some or all of his left ear. Additionally, both his ear canals are closed.

While he does have some hearing loss we know that he can hear, although you have to speak louder than normal conversational tones. We also know that he is able to talk and carry on conversations (of course they are all in Mandarin), and he knows over 300 words, and sings. Once we return to the States, we will have his hearing tested and see if he is a canidate to have his ear canals opened. This would increase his ability to hear. We have also looked into having his outer ears reconstructed and know that this is a possibility for the future.