she would say his name. We would watch the show on the DVR and she would come in only when she heard him singing. Then she started dancing and clapping and smiling. We encouraged her by saying "where's Ace?" and "is that Ace?". To this day "In the Still of the Night" still gets the best response from her. "Ace" is still her favorite word to say.
We traveled 500 miles to see Ace in Reading, PA and I gave him a t-shirt with Hayley's picture and name on it and it also said "her first word was Ace". We really wanted her to meet Ace and finally on May 5th, 2007, wearing a t-shirt with his picture on it that said "My first word was ACE", she was able to meet him.
Hayley now gives kisses and hugs. She is more outgoing, and she is trying harder to speak. She says about 5 or 6 small words. She has a twinkle in her eye that was missing before. We owe this all to Ace. I don't know what he did but he touched something inside of her that no one else could reach before.
Donna (Hayley's grandma)
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Home
As a parent you see things or don't see things happening normally with your children (in my case my granddaughter) and you take the approach "let's just wait and see if it changes" believing and hoping that it will.
My granddaughter, Hayley, came into this world with a rough start.. She had quit moving inside the womb. Her mother became very concerned and insisted that the doctors check her out. They gave her a 45 minute ultrasound which monitored her movement, breathing, and heartbeat. You can imagine my shock when I heard the technician tell the doctor that the baby failed the test in every area.
The doctor came in and explained that he was going to perform an emergency
c-section. The room became so filled with so many people that I wasn't sure what was happening. When Hayley was born they whisked her away immediately. She was put in intensive care and was put on oxygen.
Now to the present. Hayley is almost 4 years old. She was and is delayed in almost every aspect of her life; crawling, walking, playing, and especially talking. She is in a lot of therapy and goes to a special school. She has had her eyes operated on and she wears braces on her knees. She will eventually have them operated on as well when she is older. Our biggest concern is that she is not talking. She is learning some sign language. She goes to four specialists in Akron and they have confirmed that she is Autistic. She was a very withdrawn little girl and she wasn't very affectionate or emotional. This is where Ace Young comes into the story.
When we started watching AI this past season, Hayley would be in the room playing with her favorite toy. My daughter and I noticed that when Ace would sing Hayley would glance at the TV once in a while. My daughter would get on the computer and look up Ace-related web sites and Hayley would sit on her lap and look at the pictures of Ace. A few weeks into the show Hayley moved closer to the TV and would watch his whole performance. One night as we were getting ready to watch him perform "In the Still of the Night" and Hayley was standing in front of the TV. When Ace came out and started to sing she pointed to the TV and said "ACE". We were all in shock, we thought maybe we misunderstood her. Then she said it again. Then she wouldn't quit saying it. Every time she saw a picture or heard him sing
Hayley Nichole
