Meet Kate Stingl, new program leader for Saturday Fantastic Friends

 Meet Kathryn Stingl, our new program leader for Saturday Fantastic Friends. Kate Stingl graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Rehabilitation Psychology and a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. She is a licensed professional counselor and a certified rehabilitation counselor. She has been working with individuals...

Introducing paired progressions

   Paired Progressions are part of GiGi's Playhouse purposeful programming. This months paired progression is "Tall Knee". "If your knees are together and your bottom is off your heels, you are REALLY working your glutes and abdominals. This is very challenging for little ones learning to move from crawling to...

We are the next generation of physicians …..

Lauren W. is a medical student at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and a participant in the Community Health Advocacy Project. Her paper is about "Delivery of a Down Syndrome Diagnosis". Thank you, Lauren!! In our training, we are taught that there is a trisomy of the...

Best of all: A moment of tears of amazement

      The public school teacher of 9-year old Grace, who is getting literacy one-on-one tutoring at GiGi's Playhouse Madison, wrote the following note to Grace's parents: "I was in tears today due to your daughter.  We are working on her state testing and for the writing portion toady, she was...

GiGi’s Madison receives a grant from Alrusa International Inc

Thank you Altrusa International Inc. for awarding GiGi's Playhouse Madison a grant of $1,500 to support our amazing literacy program. Thank you Altrusa International!

… we are redefining what people with Down syndrome can do …

  http://www.hngnews.com/monona_cottage_grove/article_85c323f8-1ebe-5d17-8039-d932cdc9922e.html   By Cathy Kozlowicz ckozlowicz@hngnews.com hngnews.com Whenever 9-year old Grace Ryan attends a social function, people point to her, wave and enthusiastically say, “That’s Grace!” She wants to give everyone a hug when she leaves school. When she was recently sick for a week, her entire fourth-grade class...

First, do no harm

https://themighty.com/2018/02/doctors-delivering-down-syndrome-diagnosis/ Dabbing her eyes with a tissue, my friend repeated the rhetorical question posed by the geneticist, “I don’t expect my dumb dog to come in from the rain, what do you expect this child to do?” referring to my friend’s unborn daughter he had just diagnosed with Down syndrome. Just...

Our little Lady with Down syndrome…..

My name is Michelle and amongst other things, I am a mother to three children; one of which was born with an extra chromosome.  We began our journey here at Gigi’s Playhouse shortly after we moved to the Madison area in October of 2016.  We have been blessed enough to...

A Best of All moment: Meet Angel

Meet our little Angel. He came to the Playhouse five months ago when he was just an infant. Since he only heard Spanish at home he was very shy at first. He soon adapted and became a regular here at the Playhouse. Today his parents told me proudly that Angel,...

$1,000 grant from Madison4Kids!

GiGi's Playhouse Madison is pleased to announce a $1,000 grant from Madison4Kids for the purchase of therapeutic equipment including an gross motor activity station for our toddlers and an alphabet rug for our school age kids. Thank you!!!! Pictures to follow soon...

Since seventh grade, I have worked with children with disabilities as a volunteer, camp counselor, tutor and babysitter. When it was time to decide on a location for my service learning project, I wanted to have a completely new and different experience. After some exploring, I discovered GiGi’s Playhouse, a Down Syndrome Achievement Center…..

 Since seventh grade, I have worked with children with disabilities as a volunteer, camp counselor, tutor and babysitter. When it was time to decide on a location for my service learning project, I wanted to have a completely new and different experience. After some exploring, I discovered GiGi’s Playhouse, a Down Syndrome Achievement...

A best of All Moment: Zoe read her first book!

  Zoe has been coming to the Playhouse since it opened. She has been participating in Friends, Fun & Fitness mainly. Recently, she had her first literacy tutor sessions. Upon completing her 10 lessons, her mom wrote the following: "She (Zoe) actually read a book! It was awesome ... (we...