H is for Hope Haven and Healing 31 for 21: Day 14

Hope Haven has a Down syndrome clinic that we go to in Jacksonville, Florida, 120 miles from us.  I cannot sing the praises of this place enough.  For new parents I would suggest you find a clinic, local or not that provides services especially for children with Ds.  We had heard of Hope Haven from 2 of our friends, but we kept putting it off until the summer of 2010 (not because we were resistant, just being disorganized).  When I finally made the call to get an appointment, they appointment was made for 8 months later.  We were lucky because they had a cancellation in Nov and at the last minute we went down for our first full evaluation. 

Talk about being impressed!  We had a hour appointment with speech, physical and occupational therapy and education specialist.  You also have the option of seeing the doctor who is a behavior specialist also.  Since we already see a doctor in Atlanta at a different Down syndrome clinic, we opted out of the MD part of the visit.  What I love about this clinic is the fact that they celebrate Down syndrome!  They see all the positives in your child.  The assess what your child is doing and has been doing and they give positive feedback on what you can work on to improve your child’s skills.  They have a lot of knowledge about Ds and proven methods of what can work with our children.  They are a supplement to what our therapist here are doing and they give me ideas of what I can do differently to enhance what therapies Katie does take.  I love their enthusiasm for their jobs and it is so evident in how they interact with our kids, even though they only see them twice a year. 

That would be my dream to see a clinic such as this here.  To have all the resources in one building.  To offer a preschool that promotes inclusion of our kids with their peers.  If you are in this area or in Florida, I highly recommend this clinic.  You can find more information at the link here--Hope Haven.  If you haven’t connected with a clinic in your area, take the time to research one and visit it.  I have come away from both of our visits so far highly impressed and armed with many ideas and new knowledge on how to best enrich all areas of my daughter’s life. 

On another note, Katie had an appointment with her orthopedist yesterday.  I had forgotten that she had an appointment since this was made 5 months ago.  It was a follow up on her fractured femur from last Jan.  Happy to report that her bone has completely healed exactly as it should have!  We can  cross that doctor off of her must see list!  Thank you Lord!  We are going to see an orthotics specialist to see if Katie needs some inserts though.  In all likely hood she will.  She bears a lot of weight on her inner part of her foot—it makes her ankles roll in.  Does that make any sense?   We have been watching this since she started walking, but it really looks like she needs a little extra help in that area.  The physical therapist at Hope Haven recommended an evaluation when she saw her in August but said it could wait until we saw the doctor this month.  So I guess we will get that appointment set up and see what they think.