Dear L.,
I was an occupational therapist and then a special educational teacher. I am sure you have "googled" spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
Since the little girl can stand alone and walk, the damage to the spinal cord is minimal because it was low on the back. I worked with a student from 3rd grade thru high school who could walk, but the stairs during "rush" time in high school required her to use the elevator. She attended regular classes in grade and high school. She was incontinent, however, and needed to have a catheter to drain the urine. She was able to take care of this independently by about 4th or 5th grade. Before this, the school nurse did it. We did have problems with her knowing when she was going to have a bowel movement and she needed permission to just walk out of classes when she felt it was coming (without questioning or asking). Continence will depend on how low the spinal injury is.
The hydrocephalus and how it will effect her prognosis depends on when they caught it and put in the shunt. If done early, it will just mean the head is slightly larger because the skull was expanded to make room for the brain. Now that the shunt is in place the main thing would be to watch and make sure it doesn't block. Doctors can explain this to you and sometimes it needs to be replaced. If the shunt was not put in right away and the skull had begin to harden and the joints fuse, then there could be damage to the brain because the spinal fluid that was backing up would have put pressure on the brain. In other words, she could have minimal brain damage and thus learning difficulties. I have worked with a number of children who are in wheelchairs because of higher spina bifida lesions, but have normal intelligence. It is hard to tell without seeing how she is doing with development in other than gross motor areas. Is she beginning to talk? Is she interested in toys and her surroundings? Is she socializing? Is her fine hand coordination developing? If she is developing normally in these areas she should be fine. I do not know what country she is from, but sometimes in orphanages the children are kept in cribs and they will be lagging in these areas even without spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Then she may need occupational therapy to assist her in catching up in these areas.
As far as other therapy, she made need physical therapy if she has problems with walking or to strengthen her lower extremities. If she has problems with speech, she will need a speech therapist.
Basically, if you adopt her, you will need to have her have a complete evaluation which assesses her level of development in each are and then go from there. It may be a difficult journey, but I am sure that you will love her and she would be a very precious addition to your family. Special needs children can be a stress on a family, especially between the parents, so you both need to feel that you want to do this together and support each other in it.It is a commitment, but if your family is strong and desires to try it, may God bless your adoption of this precious child.
H.