GiGi’s Playhouse is a network of not-for-profit Down syndrome achievement centers dedicated to empowering individuals and promoting global acceptance. Operated and funded by and for their local communities, each of the organization’s more than 50 locations offers free educational, therapeutic and career development programs tailored to participants from infancy through adulthood.
Pam Lynch, the site director of GiGi’s Playhouse Quad Cities (QC) oversees the day-to-day operations of the Playhouse. Her role involves interacting with families, welcoming new members, working with volunteers, overseeing fundraising and grant writing and promoting GiGi’s mission within the community.
“Our goal is to reshape perceptions of Down syndrome,” Lynch said. “We don’t want cost to be a barrier, so all our programs are free for families.”
That mission continues to expand as GiGi’s Playhouse QC has seen more and more community members join. Since it opened as their eighth location in 2011, membership has nearly quadrupled to 200 families and counting.
The building, tucked away in Moline, is now one of more than 50 locations in the United States and Mexico providing specialized services to families for free.
GiGi’s Playhouse offers a wide range of programs designed to support individuals with Down syndrome at different stages of life, from youth into adulthood. These programs support areas of personal wellness like fitness, music and cooking as well as literacy, math tutoring and language. They also play an important role in the lives and communities of participants, creating a celebratory and encouraging environment which life outside of GiGi’s can struggle to produce.
According to Lynch, misconceptions about Down syndrome can create barriers to personal and social success regardless of individual needs and abilities. Purpose-built spaces offer individuals and their families the opportunity to express who they are and what they feel, separate from the assumptions often made about people with Down syndrome.
“People often assume they can’t communicate or complete tasks,” Lynch said. “But if you take the time to get to know them, you’ll see that they have likes, dislikes and personalities just like the rest of us.”
Down syndrome describes the presence of a third full or partial copy of chromosome 21, rather than the more typical two copies. Though this occurs at the genetic level and can present unique health needs, many struggles faced by individuals with Down syndrome diagnoses are caused or worsened at the social level. This makes community engagement a crucial ingredient in the success of organizations like GiGi’s and the people they serve.
As a network of nonprofits, GiGi’s Playhouse relies on donations, grants and fundraising events to keep its services running.
Volunteers account for the majority of its labor and students from Augustana College have played an active role at the Quad Cities location. Augustana alumni Brook Fieldman said that “volunteering at GiGi’s Playhouse was a transformative experience.”
Fieldman, who graduated with majors in CSD, Asian studies and disability studies, started as a third-year student with virtual literacy tutoring before transitioning to in-person sessions. During her senior year, she was invited to write a blog about increasing communication participation at home for children with Down syndrome.
“I had to lean on experts like Pam Lynch and speech-language pathologist Ann Cobb,” Fieldman said. “That’s part of what made the experience so rewarding—
learning from professionals and seeing firsthand the impact of communication support.”
GiGi’s also structures its programs in a way that best serves both participants and volunteers. One-on-one tutoring sessions are offered in the spring, summer and fall and follow research-backed methodologies. Group programs also follow structured guides and schedules to ensure that each participant experiences progress in their personal development.
Our programs are designed with purposeful progressions,” Lynch said. “At the end of each session, we assess whether participants have met their targets and build on their achievements.”
In addition to these programs, GiGi’s Playhouse incorporates augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to aid speech therapy.
An on-staff speech pathologist works with participants and their families, using communication tools that enhance language development. Interacting with these devices and seeing how, when and why they are helpful can set individuals and volunteers up for continued success in advocacy, whether for themselves or others.
Experience with these tools and programs is incredibly useful for upcoming educators and accessibility advocates. Cathy Webb, a professor in Augustana’s CSD department and head of the disability studies minor, previously worked as a speech therapist with middle and high-schoolers. She said that her interest in disabilities studies and accessibility grew as she engaged with them.
“Their struggle wasn’t that they couldn’t communicate well. Their struggle was that the rest of the world didn’t know how to communicate with them,” Webb said.
Augie’s education students, even if they’ve never volunteered at GiGi’s Playhouse, are introduced to inclusive practices in context.
Faculty Instructor of Education Charlotte Shepherd serves Augustana and its community by preparing future educators to guide a diversity of students. This includes clinical experiences, where students majoring in education work and learn alongside licensed educators in inclusive classrooms.
“They see how different strategies are implemented to ensure all students, including those with Down syndrome, thrive,” Shepherd said.
Augustana doesn’t offer what might be called a special education major, so what do these strategies look like? The surprising answer is that, in many cases, they don’t have to look like much at all.
Educators can implement small but meaningful changes to their classroom with meaningful benefits for more than a few students.
“Visual aids, repetition and gestures are helpful for everyone, not just those with communication difficulties,” Shepherd said.
Consider the experience of a student who is hesitant to ask for their instructor to slow down or who struggles to visualize scenes when given reading assignments. Perhaps a student is negatively affected by sudden noises.
Whereas direct changes made during a lesson might feel abrupt or place students in an uncomfortable spotlight, practicing accessibility more generally allows those students to feel seen and heard in more equitable ways.
By embodying the same principles of community support, individual encouragement and a more holistic understanding of disability, educators can help battle the stigma that GiGi’s Playhouse has been working to dismantle.
Michelle Hinzman-Ferris, assistant professor of education at Augustana, said that active engagement fosters a better understanding of how disability can affect life at school.
“Many of them find it eye-opening because they realize that disabilities aren’t always visible,” Hinzman-Ferris said. “The majority of students who receive special education services have hidden disabilities, such as learning disabilities.”
GiGi’s Playhouse is always looking for volunteers, particularly college students seeking hands-on experience in communication disorders, education and disability studies.
Many of these students take on roles as tutors, first training for the role and then pairing up with an individual participant for 10-15 weeks. Those who choose to become involved have a lot to look forward to as GiGi’s continues to expand its reach and support its mission with community events like its first-ever art show, held in February.
For those interested in learning more about what GiGi’s Playhouse does and how to support their mission, a calendar of future programs and events is available online. If you’re not quite sure it would be a good fit, take Fieldman’s word for it.
“When I finally met one of my virtual students in person, it was such a special moment,” Fieldman said. “It made me realize that the work we do as tutors goes far beyond academics—it’s about connection.”
