Program News
What does it mean to be an empowered young adult with Down syndrome?
Hi GiGi’s community! World Down Syndrome Day is coming up on March 21st! At GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago, we are excited to celebrate all of the joy, enthusiasm, and achievement of our community. Our participants are bright and capable on World Down Syndrome Day and every day. Diego, Emily, Luis, and Natalia shared with us…
Read MoreWorld Down Syndrome Day is March 21st
Happy March, GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago! This month is extra special and celebratory with March 21st being World Down Syndrome Day. On this day, we get to celebrate and continue to raise awareness about Down syndrome and our mission of global acceptance for all! Did you know these interesting facts about Down syndrome? …
Read MoreJayden’s Plush Creation – Blog Written by Jayden
Written by: Jayden Hi everybody! This is my new toy that I made! I’m very proud. It is made from felt, stuffing, and marker. First, I hot-glued the head. I left a bit open so I could stuff it. Then I made the body. Then I made the arms and legs. Last, I made…
Read MoreExplore Our Playhouse Programs
Hello GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago families, volunteers, and community! We are so excited to talk about our free purposeful and progressive programs that we offer here at the Chicago Playhouse. We want to talk about some of our most popular programs and highlight some ones you may not know about. Listed below are the current programs…
Read MoreHappy New Year, GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago!
Written by: Warner Hellyer, GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago Marketing Committee Member We are so excited for this New Year and all that it will bring for our Playhouse. At this year’s Board Retreat, our Board of Managers and Staff had the opportunity to sit down, think critically and dream up audacious goals for this community.…
Read MoreHoliday Recipes from Cooking Club
Written by: University of Illinois at Chicago Occupational Therapy Students Justyna Falat, Emily Betz, and Kaily Nagel It’s been an exciting year at GiGi’s Cooking Club! When we volunteered to lead the group, we never could have anticipated all of the changes that would take place in 2020, but we have had such a great…
Read MoreThis Week in EPIC
Written by: Emily Chun, Doctoral Student in Occupational Therapy at Rush University This week in EPIC, we worked on identifying and setting goals. To do this, we used a strategy called GOAL-PLAN-DO-CHECK. Each participant set a goal, made a plan on how they were going to achieve that goal, did the activities in their plan,…
Read MoreEmpowering Young Adults with Down Syndrome through the EPIC Work Readiness Group
By: Julia Andrews, Marissa Iacullo, Jessie Jarosz, Leah Schneider This past fall, we have had the pleasure of leading an EPIC: Work Readiness Group at GiGi’s Playhouse, as a part of our Group Dynamics course at Rush University. Over the course of 6 weeks, we aimed to increase participant’s work readiness skills and self-determination in…
Read MoreStaying Connected with Friends and Family: Fun Virtual Activities to Try at Home This Holiday Season
By Megan Beiler, OTS, Grace Hoak, OTS, Abigail Peters, OTS, & Kellie Reynolds, OTS Rush University Occupational Therapy Department This fall, we had the opportunity to run a six-week virtual EPIC social skills group for young adults at GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago. As 2nd year occupational therapy students at Rush University, we were looking forward…
Read MoreBacked by Berman
This summer, Berman Subaru of Chicago reached out to GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago to extend an invitation of support and partnership during COVID-19. Together we came up with the idea of creating tutoring kits for our participants that were enrolled in virtual math and literacy tutoring, an amazing opportunity to meet a need in our…
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