{"id":131411,"date":"2019-09-06T13:24:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T17:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/?p=131411"},"modified":"2025-09-12T19:19:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T23:19:33","slug":"introducing-scott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/introducing-scott\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Scott"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christy Bouziotis<\/p>\n

\"\"In this blog post, we continue to spotlight the range of participants GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Hillsborough serves and purposeful programs we offer\u2014for newborn through adult!<\/p>\n

Recently, we introduced you to Noah Diaz<\/a>, who first came to GiGi\u2019s at just six weeks old.<\/p>\n

Today, we are pleased to introduce you to Scott Scalise! Scott is 47 years old, and he started coming to GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Hillsborough in 2015 when our doors first opened. \u201cI thank heaven for GiGi\u2019s\u201d says Scott\u2019s mom Judi. \u201cIt gets me to get Scott out and involved and socializing with friends!\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott is a regular at GiGi\u2019s TEAM and Fantastic Friends programs, and he also participates in literacy tutoring. \u201cScott\u2019s articulation, speech and language development, and overall confidence have greatly improved since he started tutoring, \u201cJudi says, adding with a chuckle. \u201cAn unexpected benefit…his curses now come out clear as a bell!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Scott singing at Fantastic Friends<\/p><\/div>\n

Judi, mother of four, remembers clearly how different it was in the initial days after giving birth to Scott. \u201cNo one really knew how to help me,\u201d she says. \u201cBut the nurse happened to have two children with Down syndrome, and she said to me: Take him home and love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some family members weren\u2019t as positive and encouraging, though, and suggested on multiple occasions that Judi should put Scott away for others to care for him. Although the years have been filled with ups and downs, Judi doesn\u2019t at all regret not heeding that advice. When it comes to help and solutions, Judi points to GiGi\u2019s. \u201cIf you are a parent of a child with Down syndrome and you come here,\u201d she says, \u201cyou have come to the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Scott’s passions are old-time music, 70s sitcoms, and bowling. And he loves coming to programs at GiGi\u2019s. Participating in GiGi\u2019s programs has improved Scott\u2019s social skills, independence, decision making, and overall confidence. This is very important since Scott lives in a group home with 4 other adults. At his home, Scott is in charge of the weekly grocery shopping, and he is quite meticulous about keeping track of needed items and getting everything on the list.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Judi & Scott at the 2019 “i have a Voice” Gala<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSeeing his self-sufficiency improve is a great comfort to me, \u201cJudi says, \u201cbecause one of my greatest fears\u2014and this is something many parents of adult <\/em>children with Down syndrome feel\u2014is worrying if Scott will be okay someday when I\u2019m not here. It\u2019s a very scary thing, and I often think that if I could just live one minute longer than him, I\u2019d be at peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy one regret is that I didn\u2019t find something like this sooner,\u201d Judi adds. \u201cI see how much the younger kids benefit from the programs at GiGi\u2019s, and it is really beneficial to get an early start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back, though, what Judi feels most about raising Scott is joy. \u201cThese 47 years with Scott have brought me great joy. And my advice to new parents would be what I was told years ago: take your child home and love him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christy Bouziotis In this blog post, we continue to spotlight the range of participants GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Hillsborough serves and purposeful programs we offer\u2014for newborn through adult! Recently, we introduced you to Noah Diaz, who first came to GiGi\u2019s at just six weeks old. Today, we are pleased to introduce you to Scott Scalise! Scott…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/hillsborough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}