About Grace
Hi y’all, my name is Grace Spath and I am a junior speech pathology and child development double major from Lake Bluff currently studying at Texas Christian University. I am a SLP intern at GiGi's Deerfield for the summer (and hopefully the summers to come) and have been running our...
New Year and New Board Members
To sustain our mission and our playhouse we look to strong leaders. Our playhouse is governed by a board of directors who manage our fundraising and events, budgeting and program planning, advocacy and community engagement, and more. We're so excited to announce that several new board members have joined our...
National Volunteer of the Year!
Every year in November the playhouses from across the country gather together to share ideas, best practices, and trainings to ensure we are providing the latest and greatest to our families. Although this year was our first virtual conference the impact was just as great. The last day of conference...
Introducing Erin
My name is Erin E. Mallicoat and I’m from Northbrook, Illinois. I’m 21 years old and I have one older brother, two of the sweetest dogs in the world, and I live with my awesome mom and dad! At the age of 2, I was diagnosed with Down Syndrome and...
I Am the Storm
Before Finn was born I had all these fears and thoughts about his future, about my future. Would he make friends, go to school, hold a job, move out of our house? He arrived and my fears and thoughts had to change to focus on what was immediately in front...
Language, Music, N’ Our Peeps at the Park
It felt like Christmas in August at our first ever outdoor LMNOP this past weekend. Our excitement and joy was felt throughout the park. FOURTEEN families including THREE BRAND NEW FAMILIES gathered at a safe, social-distance to work on those important speech and communication skills with Jill and Judith. Our...
How to Stay Active
How to Stay Active at Home Maintaining a healthy lifestyle for you and your family is challenging enough without the burden of COVID-19. It seems like most days are more work than play, and the last thing you want to do is add another thing to your list of “to-dos”....
The Power of GiGi’s At Home
I have written many times about what GiGi’s means to me. Now officially five years in, I can say the playhouse has truly shaped who I am and recently I have gotten to witness the impact it has on my daughter. We learn so much from the kids and adults...
We run for HUDSON!
I’ve always been a fairly active individual. I used to run for myself – for my health, to clear my head, to listen to great music, to greet the day with exercise, to feel my heart beating. It wasn’t until Hudson was born that I chose to run for someone...
Lessons From Home
I’m learning many things during the shutdown/quarantine, but one of the biggest pulls I didn’t expect was the ache due to missing our time at the playhouse. We’ve been going to GiGis Playhouse Deerfield since Conner was like, 2 weeks old. Fast forward a year and we haven’t seen our...
Why Do We Use Two Handed Movement at LMNOP?
Children with Down syndrome often have a tendency to use one hand or the other in play, versus using both hands together. For example, they might use one hand to try to put a puzzle piece in a form board, without using the other hand to stabilize the form board....
Movin’ On Up! Tips and Tools for Pre-Walkers
Movin’ On Up One of the main goals in development is to move up against gravity from floor activities such as rolling, crawling and sitting to become a stander and walker. This includes going from belly to hands and knees, getting to a support to pull up to kneeling, and...