Understanding Sensory Processing w. Kirsten DeBear, MSEd, OTR

Last month at Kirsten’s workshop:

GiGis Playhouse delivers on its promise to raise expectations for children with Down syndrome, for their parents and for those who love them.  On September 26^th, Kirsten DeBear,MSEd., OTR – showed us how to do this with simple table top games.
During Kirsten De Bear’s monthly community teaching session, we experienced something that attending any number of lectures could not have communicated – we saw Kirsten engage a young Playhouse participant for a full 45 minutes; an exercise that left the young girl beaming, her mother astonished and other participant inspired.

Kirsten, for those that have not been to her on-going monthly teachings on supporting development, has impressive credentials behind her name. It is not the fancy title,  MSEd and OTR, that defines her. She has passion and commitment and has dedicated her life to the improvement of children with special needs.

Kathryn, is a lucky 7 year old child who happens to have Down’s syndrome.  She is enrolled in the Playhouse’s Ballet class, Saturday Music, Dance and Open Play and has applied for our one-on-one Literacy Tutoring Program.   She accompanied her mother to Kirsten’s talk.  It is difficult to get the attention and focus of a 7 year old child. However, sitting around the 6’ square table, Kathryn responded to the incrementally challenging games that Kirsten set out before her.

Board games and puzzles were immaculately organized and laid out in a way that allowed Kathryn to understand a simple concept and then build on that concept’s complexity.  If she faltered, Kirsten was quick to ‘lend her ego’ in order to assure Kathryn’s understanding, success and feeling of accomplishment – she preserved Kathryn’s motivation by making sure Kathryn engaged “the just right challenge”.   Feeling accomplished, Kathryn continued – As we say in our literacy program, success is the key to success!

It was wonderful to see what Kathryn was able to achieve as Kirsten set out a few, well-chosen games and then proceeded to introduce these games in small steps, while modeling for those watching, the potential benefits in developing a family ritual of spending just a few quality moments each day in the pleasure of problem solving with every day table top games.

At the Playhouse, our vision is to see a world in which individuals with Down syndrome are accepted and embraced in their families, communities and schools.

Thank you, Kirsten, for helping us succeed!