Gigi's Playhouse @ JCC BrooklynGigi’s Playhouse is an organization created in 2002 by Nancy Gianna. Nancy gave birth to herdaughter Gigi, who had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. This then turned into Nancyopening the very first Playhouse which was created to be a dedicated place for families tocelebrate their child and [...]
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an off-Broadway showing of Addy & Uno at the Kirk Theatre on theatre row in NYC. I attended on behalf of PunkinFutz and I’m so happy I did! The show is promoted as “the first family musical about disability, kindness and friendship.” I think [...]
By definition, child creative play is child-led. It is a series of choices and constructs initiated by the child. The desire to play to not unique to humans; it is observed across diverse species throughout evolution.[1] According to Dr. Doris Bergen,[2] as reported in the Journal of Early Childhood Research and Practice:[3] [...]
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” -- Marcus Tullius Cicero When my daughter was young, we had an interaction we would repeat any time she had to deal with unpleasant medical tests or procedures. I would say to her, “What’s our FIRST priority?” [...]
The first time I heard it, it sounded ridiculous. How do you schedule FUN? You can’t force fun, it either happens or it doesn’t. But what I’ve learned is, it’s much more likely to happen if there’s room for it. So, I scheduled Fun Adventure Friday. Every Friday, I pick Buster [...]
When our son was fitted with orthotics, I asked the doctor why they weren’t more colorful. Why couldn’t they look like super hero gear? He laughed and said they should. But they didn’t. They looked like sterile torture devices. I started noticing similar things. Overwhelmingly, mobility assistive devices (wheelchairs, walkers, [...]
