Xu Xianqin (Photo/Weibo)

Xu teaches a child to speak. (Photo/Weibo)

Xu Xianqin is from Yongkang, Zhejiang Province. After high school, she went to Yiwu, and got married there. In 1995, she became a mother. What she did not expect was her son being diagnosed with congenital deafness at the age of 4. "I couldn't accept the fact at first, and cried for days," said Xu.

After that, Xu Xianqin quit her job and stayed at home to take care of her son. She bought a lot of textbooks of teaching and training hearing-impaired children, and began to help her son to speak. Every time she had to make very loud sound repeatedly. "For most of the times, I felt like I was talking to myself. I was desperate and also thought about giving up. But every time I told myself: just try one more time."

A month later, Xu's son said his first word in life: "Mom." It was like a sound from heaven to Xu Xianqin. During the 1400 days after that day, she worked ever harder, and kept on trying new ways to teach her son to speak. On Sept. 1, 2002, Xu’s son went to elementary school just like other normal kids.

In 2003, Xu Xianqin met another mother who also had a son with hearing disability. Even though Xu had handful of things with her own son, she still decided to help her. Two months later, the boy she helped can say “mom, dad, grandma and grandpa.”

More and more people heard about Xu Xianqin and came to her for help. In 2004, Xu and her husband spent all their money opening a studio for children with hearing disabilities, concentrating on teaching them how to speak. Not only from Zhejiang Province, parents from Jiangxi, Anhui, and Fujian all come to visit her.

Now Xu has helped over 400 deaf children to speak, and 200 of them now are at school just like other normal children. "Create a warm and sweet environment for the children with disabilities, and help them to get back to the world of sound as well as the mainstream society." Xu Xianqin said this is her lifelong pursuit. 

Xu and her students. (Photo/Weibo)