Hazel Continues to Impress

Have you heard of the John McGivney Children's Center? We are lucky enough to live in a community with an amazing resource to help parents with children like Hazel who just might need a little guidance to keep them on the right track. They help children with Trisomy 21, as well as other children with special needs. We are grateful for their expertise and guidance. They have proven to be a great support to us as we try to do our best to raise our daughter.

We had a visit last week from the speech pathologist. She came over to make sure Hazel is on the right track with early language development. Her goal was to offer suggestions and learning strategies for us to use to help Hazel continue to develop new skills to the best of her ability. Upon her arrival she was surprised to find such a strong and healthy looking little girl. A far cry from her days in London. The description of the baby in the file she read was not the same baby she came face-to-face with. She was very impressed with Hazel and all her accomplishments so far.

It is common for children with Down Syndrome to have difficulties with speech. One of the reasons they experience this can be due to low muscle tone in the jaw. So far, Hazel seems to be ahead of the game in this regard. Her muscle tone is very good and she has begun to babble and imitate, skills a 6-9 months old baby can do. The speech pathologist was shocked to see her progress so far.

We don't know what future challenges await Hazel, but we are proud of the milestone that she has achieved. We are never looking at the things Hazel can't do, but celebrating the things that she can!!

Here is an example of how vocal Hazel is. She is perfectly happy in this video by the way...