Meet Roberta and Christian

Written by Ellie McNeil – GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago Outreach Intern

Roberta and her son, Christian, began their journey at GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago in 2017. Christian was born in London, England with an at birth diagnosis of Down syndrome. They found themselves moving to Chicago in 2017 when he was in kindergarten. Roberta recalled her friend telling her check out a place called GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago. She had no idea there was a specific place for individuals with Down syndrome that offered these great, free programs. They jumped right into math and literacy tutoring. They then learned more about the programs and immediately joined the yoga and speech tutoring.

Christian was so interested in yoga right away. Roberta recalled an amazing one-on-one yoga session for eight weeks in 2021. One of the main goals of this program was to see how the relationship between the parent and child was strengthened through yoga, as well as teaching different yoga practices. They have continued to do it almost every day now together, which is another special memory for them. Roberta mentioned that she has noticed a big difference in his behavior and everyday living since they started practicing yoga.

Roberta is proud of Christian for his enthusiasm and adventurous spirit for life. Christian will be in fourth grade and is very busy with various activities like; swimming, basketball, and GiGi’s Playhouse programs and tutoring. Christian is also bilingual and can speak Italian, which is something his mom is happy that she can share that part of herself with him, as she is from Italy.

When I asked her what advice she had for potential families, she stated, “Come on in.” Roberta had nothing but positive things to say about the impact our programs have had on Christian and how empowering this space is. Roberta noted that when she first entered the Playhouse, she got this feeling that anything is possible.

We are so happy that Christian and his mom are a part of this community, and we can’t wait to watch Christian’s journey at the Playhouse.