Here at Better Together Playnasium, we truly believe that we are all “Better Together.”
How did Better Together Playnasium come about? Well, it all started after the birth of Kai, co-owner Amber Pierson’s son, in December of 2017. Kai was born with a brain anomaly called Dandy Walker syndrome and a condition called Hydrocephalus. Kai underwent brain surgery on his second day of life and is going to live with a permanent device, called a shunt, in his head. They know the future for Kai is going to be challenging and a lot of it will be unknown.
As Kai began to grow older, many other challenges presented themselves. He was missing several milestones and clearly falling behind the “typical child” as far as development goes. After months, several evaluations, and doctor’s appointments, it was determined that Kai was also legally blind and epileptic. It was no surprise to the doctors that Kai began having seizures, as it was to be expected with his brain anomalies. But as more time passed and he grew older, it became more difficult to find things for Kai to do, places to learn, grow and play, considering all of his challenges and developmental delays. Not to mention, it was sometimes difficult to take Kai places to play without feeling judged, embarrassed, and the need to explain Kai’s delays to everyone. That’s when Amber and her mother and other co-owner, Mary Poole, had an idea and the journey of Better Together started.
We had one advantage, Mary (along with her husband, Mark) already owned a large commercial building in Pataskala, Ohio that currently houses a competitive cheerleading program. Even more convenient, this space wasn’t being utilized during the day; only by cheerleading in the evenings and occasionally on the weekend. What a perfect space to create an adaptive indoor play gym for younger children! The plans for this new adaptive gym space, now called Better Together Playnasium, started in early 2019.
We did our research and realized the true need for a place like this on the east side of Columbus, Ohio but also in the metropolitan area overall. Better Together Playnasium officially had its grand opening in December 2019.
We took a lot of time designing our space to meet the needs of all children and their families. We knew this would be a challenging task but one that is of utmost importance! We really strive to create an environment that fosters learning, exploration, and growth all while creating conversations, spreading awareness, building relationships and simply having FUN! Our space provides activities and equipment that are sensory-friendly, foster fine motor development, are sensitive to children prone to over-stimulation, adaptive to children with motor delays or walking devices and so much more. Although our space generally targets younger children, we continue to work towards making it a space where all children (younger and older, no matter their cognitive abilities) could come and learn, grow and play. We truly believe that we all, children (young and old) as well as adults, regardless of our abilities, are Better in Community Together.
