? 2012 Casey Garrow
By Casey Garrow SYRACUSE (NCC NEWS) ? GiGi?s Playhouse is a national organization dedicated to helping people with Down syndrome.
A new center is currently under construction and will open to all children and adults with Down syndrome in November.
The?mission is to help people with the disability achieve their highest potential. The center will provide educational, therapeutic, physical fitness, recreation and other services.
Ally Donofrio is a mother of a 2-year-old with Down syndrome and felt inspired to start a center locally. Donofrio is opening GiGi?s Playhouse with the help of friends and other parents.
The center will specifically?include literacy and?math rooms for one-on-one tutoring, a stage for performances and a fitness room.
?I think having the kids being able to come into their own space and having their own special space is?really important,? Donofrio said.
Educate, inspire, achieve
The concept for the center started in the suburbs of Chicago in 2003. GiGi?s?Playhouse in Cicero will be the?13th location for the organization.
The nonprofit is run by volunteers around the community and funded entirely by donations.
The volunteers include parents, retired teachers, and elementary teachers and people whom simply love working with the kids.
?Anyone that has a passion for the kids and has the patience to work with the children then we will train them,? Donofrio said.
Psychologist, Dr. Carroll Grant, who specializes in developmental disabilities in young children such as Down syndrome, said it?s important to have centers like GiGi?s Playhouse offered to the community.
?The stronger we can be to help families support their child. The more strength they have to be available to their child and to promote the child?s development,??Dr. Grant said.
GiGi?s Playhouse hopes to the fill a gap in this community for many children and their families who need a support system.
Donofrio is still open to any?suggestions from the public as they prepare to open the center in a few short weeks.
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Source: https://nccnews.expressions.syr.edu/?p=60128
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