Barbara McCreight tucked her thumb into her palm and raised all four fingers on her right hand, the American Sign Language letter B.
"Blue!" cried 6-year-old Cooper Green, pointing to the blue plastic circle McCreight had placed on the floor of Gigi's Playhouse, an education and social learning skills center in west Little Rock for children with Down syndrome.
On Saturday, a handful of children and their parents attended Gigi's "LMNOP" (Language, Music N Our Peeps) program, which aids in developing rudimentary sign language skills for children and their parents. McCreight, a retired special-education teacher from Bryant and a volunteer at Gigi's, led the children in singing songs and playing games that incorporated sign language.
The playhouse was designed for children with Down syndrome, but, like Cooper, many of the children who were playing Saturday at Gigi's did not have developmental disorders.
Rather, managing board member Celeste Connor said, the center is open to all children to foster an environment of inclusivity.
"The big mission here is acceptance for all," Connor said. "Global acceptance for all. We're all in this world together, you know."
Gigi's Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers is a national nonprofit. The Little Rock branch opened June 6 and offers free classes, events and playtime for any child in Arkansas.
Connor said Saturday that the Little Rock center has been a "true community effort."
Central Arkansas Water donated a "calming corner," where a large, multicolored water feature bubbles quietly between child-size plush chairs. Total Medical Supply Inc. maintains a nursing mother's room filled with diapers, bottles, blankets and other baby supplies. Families donated time and toys to the facility's fitness room and play areas.
"It really is the community that keeps this going," Connor said, smiling. "It was a God thing. Almost everything about GiGi's is a God thing."
Though the center, the first in Arkansas, is part of a national conglomerate featuring 46 such playhouses, Connor said the management team keeps the focus local. Photos of area children with Down syndrome -- many of whom attend the center's programs and playtimes -- dot the walls of the center at 301 N. Shackleford Road.
To a bystander, the games may seem like just that: games. But Connor said each of the activities has been designed to help children learn motor skills, increase social interaction or learn something practical.
"It's purposeful play," Connor said. "Often people with intellectual disabilities have trouble with purposeful play."
The sign language games, for example, help children who are nonverbal or partly verbal find ways to express themselves.
"Kids with developmental disorders sometimes don't pick up on verbal language quickly or at all," McCreight said. "We teach sign language because we think it's really important for them to have a way to communicate."
The center is mostly run by volunteers, but Connor said the center looks for volunteers who can bring meaningful skills to the play area.
"We have occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists -- those are the kinds of people we have volunteering," Connor said. "But we also have 15-year-olds who volunteer for school, and kids who come with their parents ... that gets back to our acceptance for all."
Connor smiled widely as she entered a room that she and her husband, David Connor II, had funded.
"That is my son," she said, gesturing to a painting on the wall of Max, the main character in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, swinging from branch to branch with several wild things.
"That is my son all over."
Connor's son, David Connor III, was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome and is now a happy 7-year-old, Connor said. Her mother -- Lorraine Cekovic, who is a regular volunteer at GiGi's -- worked in special education for her entire career, so Connor said she knew what to expect when she heard the diagnosis.
What she did not have, Connor said, was a community.
"What I needed was people who understood," she said. "I would have loved to have a place like GiGi's."
Connor said children with Down syndrome are often misunderstood and shunned. People often do not understand the needs and patience that a child with such a developmental disability requires.
"Our kids wear their diagnoses on their faces," Connor said. "People treat them differently. ... But not here. At GiGi's, everyone understands. When you come here, there's no one judging you. There's no stigma."
NW News on 11/28/2019