{"id":157784,"date":"2024-07-03T13:16:34","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T19:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/?p=157784"},"modified":"2025-01-03T11:46:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T17:46:44","slug":"note-gratitude-galens-growth-milestones-gigis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/note-gratitude-galens-growth-milestones-gigis\/","title":{"rendered":"A Note of Gratitude: Galen&#8217;s Growth and Milestones with GiGi\u2019s Virtual Playhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Dear GiGi\u2019s Virtual Team,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We want you to know how much we love your programs and teachers. You have made a profound difference in our lives, and it\u2019s hard to believe how much growth has happened for Galen since he started attending programs in September!&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/files\/2024\/07\/Galen-3-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-157788\" style=\"width:429px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/files\/2024\/07\/Galen-3-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/files\/2024\/07\/Galen-3-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/files\/2024\/07\/Galen-3-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/files\/2024\/07\/Galen-3-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/files\/2024\/07\/Galen-3-1.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>New Signs of Communication: The Impact of LMNOP<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Galen signed \u2018excited\u2019 several times recently, and I know that he got that from LMNOP, even though he pretends not to pay too much attention. Up until this development, the only other emotion he had a word or sign for was \u2018happy,\u2019 so this is a wonderful, big step. I love LMNOP, thank you for letting us participate!&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Personal Connection: Galen\u2019s Literacy Tutoring<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Most of all, thank you for Galen\u2019s literacy tutoring. He adores Jaida, and I am so grateful for her expertise, patience, and caring in working with him. He is really invested in their time together. I believe he used his first intentional two-word instruction on his AAC device during their most recent session. I\u2019ve never seen him do that before, and I was completely floored. He said, \u2018More. Do.\u2019 He made a similar statement again later in the session.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Building Blocks of Literacy: Alphabet Awareness and Beyond<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;He has continued to build on alphabet awareness and has lists of memorized words that go together with letter sounds, which he repeats or sings to himself off and on all day long. This week, however, I am also seeing the beginnings of a new level of reading skill! Galen is starting to (completely independently) recognize and pronounce the beginning sound of a word by seeing the word and noticing the letter that the word starts with. I can see that he is analyzing the first letter and thinking about what sound it makes. He does this when playing or seeing words in books that he is looking at by himself. I don\u2019t even have words for how exciting this is.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Overcoming Challenges: Continuing to Thrive<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;All of this is happening during a time when he has decreased hearing due to the effects of an illness this winter, and I know that he is only continuing to progress because of your expert, multi-sensory programs and the huge amount of caring of the people who provide them.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Year of Growth and Gratitude<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;These are just a few highlights of an amazing year filled with growth. We are so grateful for you all.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Love,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cevan, Galen, and Family&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GiGi\u2019s Virtual Playhouse&#8217;s 1:1 literacy tutoring and virtual programs, like LMNOP, have made a significant impact on Galen&#8217;s development. His journey is a testament to the power of personalized education and the dedication of the amazing team at GiGi\u2019s Virtual Playhouse. We look forward to more milestones and growth in the future!&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Dear GiGi\u2019s Virtual Team,&nbsp; We want you to know how much we love your programs and teachers. You have made a profound difference in our lives, and it\u2019s hard to believe how much growth has happened for Galen since he started attending programs in September!&#8221;&nbsp; New Signs of Communication: The Impact of LMNOP&nbsp; &#8220;Galen signed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1921,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1921"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/virtual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}