1:1 Math Spotlight: Shizuka!
It's always the biggest accomplishment when we have a student surpass what anyone expected. Far too often, people believe that it's too late for adults with Down syndrome to learn and thrive in certain areas of their life. This month, we are highlighting the accomplishments of Shizuka, one of our...
Giving Tuesday Events!
GiGi’s Playhouse is a one-of-a-kind achievement center for individuals with Down syndrome, their families, and the community. GiGi’s Playhouse offers 1:1, group and career development programs that advance literacy, math skills, motor skills and more; all of which are FREE of charge. All programs are based on best practices for learning...
Volunteer Spotlight: Sally Marquis!
Our volunteer spotlight for this month is none other than Sally Marquis! Sally has dedicated hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to support the Hugs and Mugs professional internships and develop the program into what it has become today. Sally is more than an amazing volunteer- she is the backbone of...
2019 National Leadership Conference!
Last week, the GiGi’s Playhouse National Leadership Conference took place at the Hyatt in Schaumburg. The conference gathers staff and volunteers from the entire network of GiGi’s Playhouse. There were over 300 attendees from 60 cities and Mexico! Because the Hoffman Playhouse houses the National Office, our interns in the Career Development...
GiGiFEST Turns Sweet 16!
The 2019 version of GiGi Fest was a smashing success! The weather was perfect and the energy was contagious! So many families from the Chicagoland area came out to celebrate the 16th birthday of GiGi’s Playhouse and it was as sweet as ever! There was delicious food from Garibaldi’s, lots...
GiGi’s means so much…
GiGi's Playhouse means so much to our family... I’ll never ever forget taking our son to the Playhouse for the first time... for weeks beforehand, I would sit in my car in the parking lot with my son and just stare at the GiGi’s Playhouse sign... I knew that once...
Volunteer Spotlight!
Back in March, Cindy Laine volunteered for the first time at GiGi’s Playhouse. It was World Down Syndrome Day. she was introduced to GiGi’s through her employer Vistex and their Endeavor Volunteer Program. Working that event has led to an amazing relationship between Cindy and GiGi’s as she has gone...
Welcome Dr. Jay!
Please join me in welcoming the newest addition to our GiGi's Playhouse National Office Team, Dr. Vicki Jay, as our National Speech and Language Expert! Dr. Jay’s first day was Monday, August 5! Dr. Jay’s role will include working directly with local participants and supervising graduate students in the...
GiGi U and Prep are Making it Count!
These days in GiGi U and GiGi Prep, our students have been working very hard on their money skills. They especially love when we play Money Uno to practice coin identification. Recently we have been working on adding up enough money to buy an item, or picking out what item...
Hugs + Mugs Intern Spotlight | Aubrey
Hugs + Mugs is a café and retail store run by our GiGi U graduates, now referred to as “Interns” along with our support and staff. Each intern will manage different aspects of a real-life retail environment and continue building their career skills. Today, we want to introduce you to...
GiGi Knocked it out of the Park!!
Did you catch the Cubs game on Tuesday?? Our very own GiGi was the highlight when she sang the National Anthem and did AMAZING! It takes over 70 muscles to produce one word, and having low muscle tone greatly impacts precision and endurance for speech production. GiGi has been working...
Benefits of Early Sign Language!
What are the benefits of sign language on early speech and language learning? The talk surrounding the use of sign language when communicating with children has increased over the past few decades. The language development of a child begins with gestures beginning as early as 6 months. But how do...