May is National Speech-Language-Hearing Month!

According to InnoCaption, a company that launched the first captioned phone service for the deaf and hard of hearing community, National Speech-Language-Hearing Month is “more than an awareness campaign—it is a movement to foster inclusion, empathy, and connection. Observed each May, it underscores the essential role that speech, language, and hearing play in everyday life—from building relationships and participating in education to thriving in the workplace and engaging with the broader community.”

At GiGi’s, we support the development of speech and language for our participants of all ages. The GiGi’s Amina Grace Speech & Language 1:1 program is offered 3 sessions throughout the year. This program came to be by the generous donation of Munawar Ali and Maura Cullen in honor of their daughter Amina Grace. Open to individuals with Down syndrome of ALL ages, and like all other programs at GiGi’s Playhouse, it is provided completely FREE OF CHARGE to all of our participants and families!

For this past Spring session, we were blessed to have two amazing graduate students working with our participants: Yarit and Unique. They worked under the supervision of Maureen Schmitt, who was also featured in a recent blog post. We are so grateful to all three of them for all of the work they put in to help our participants, and we wish them the very best!!

The 1:1 Speech program provides participants with greatly expanded opportunities to evolve and refine their speech and language skills. Effective enunciation, clarity of speech, word order and message meaning are paramount to fostering greater self-confidence, comprehension, problem-solving, school readiness, social skills, independence, and overall quality of life.

Registration is open now for the summer session. Please see our website under the Programs tab for registration details.