Celebrating National Speech-Language-Hearing Month

Each May, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) raises awareness about communication disorders and promotes those who provide life-altering treatment to these individuals. Here at GiGi’s Playhouse Madison, we are grateful to work with amazing Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) and UW Madison SLP students.

Amina Grace Speech and Language Therapy Program

Amina Grace was the middle child of Maura and Munawar who was born with Down syndrome. When Amina entered the world she was peaceful and smiling and you could sense a strength about her. She had the amazing ability to take whatever life threw at her and really make the best of it. Amina loved to be with family. Amina Grace passed away in September 2014 and her parents chose to honor her life by creating the Amina Grace Memorial Fund. Her parents shared “Amina was sent here to this Earth to work through us to inspire others. To change people. To open people’s hearts to endless possibilities. We created the Amina Grace Memorial Fund to honor her and to carry on life’s lessons that we learned with her – that all human beings have amazing abilities, but sometimes we need a little extra help to live up to our full potential.”

You can learn more about Amina Grace HERE

UW Speech and Hearing Clinic

We have been lucky enough to work with the UW Speech and Hearing Clinic for the Amina Grace Speech and Language Program to our Playhouse. Liz Delsandro, Speech Language Pathology and Clinical Associate Professor at UW-Madison supervises first and second year students for 10 sessions during our Spring, Summer and Fall Sessions. The students gain valuable experience working one on one and in small groups with our participants and their families while our participants are able to receive FREE Speech Therapy!

Our Families

Our families are forever grateful for this opportunity. One family states “It’s a tremendous opportunity that provides consistency and attention, which is hard to get through outpatient therapy.” Families love how the Speech students are able to individualize the sessions to incorporate subjects the students enjoy. Many families can’t afford outpatient Speech therapy and we are able to provide it free of charge to our families thanks to our relationship with UW Speech and Hearing Clinic, Amina Grace Memorial Foundation, and the many other grants and donors that help up provide our free, purposeful programming all year long.

Our Speech Therapists

This session, our Speech Therapists enjoyed “Watching my clients make progress towards their goals/outcomes each week!” They have heard amazing things about our playhouse from past students, so they are excited to experience this amazing program.

Advice for future Speech Therapists: “Come in with an open mind and don’t be afraid to get creative with activities to target goals/outcomes.” They encourage others to invest in the families they work with and really get to know their client. The connections are invaluable.

Best of All Moments

“The first time she was able to create a play sequence with 3 events with moderate prompting was quite impressive.”

“Hearing my sons speech improve that others outside of the family understand him.”

“When my client finished the line in Old McDonald by selecting the animal using his AAC device for the first time.”

“My best of all moment was when I learned how to keep my very active client engaged in play-based therapy.”

Thank you Liz Delsandro and all of our Speech Therapy Students who have helped us provide this life altering program to all of our playhouse families!

Our Summer Schedule is set an we are looking forward to seeing all the progress made. Fall enrollment will be July 21st – August 11th 2025.