Our Mission Statement:
hear ME now!, Maine’s ONLY Oral Deaf Education Center is committed to the families of deaf and hard of hearing children and ensures opportunities to learn to listen and speak through innovative teaching and technology
Our Mission Statement:
hear ME now! Maine’s ONLY Oral Deaf Education Center is committed to the families of deaf and hard of hearing children and ensures opportunities to learn to listen and speak through innovative teaching and technology
Educational Philosophy:
hear ME now! is committed to supporting comprehensive parent/infant, toddler, preschool and school aged auditory/oral programs defined by early education "best practices." In addition, we provide specialized equipment, materials and teaching methods tailored to the needs of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to ensure the best acoustic access for our students in the mainstream classroom.
OPTION Schools International
hear ME now! is a member of OPTION Schools, an international network of private schools dedicated to the provision of the highest quality oral deaf education.
OPTION Schools recognize that children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing do not obtain hearing aids or a cochlear implant and just simply start talking. It takes expertise and intensive effort to train their brains to interpret and use the sound they hear to develop spoken language.
hear ME now! was started by a group of people who know exactly how overwhelming it is to be told your child is deaf. That's why they've worked so hard to ensure that other parents have something that they didn't: options.
The idea for Advocates for Deaf Oral Programs, the group's original name, began with Laurie Piasio of Scarborough, whose daughter Sarah was diagnosed as profoundly deaf when she was 16 months old.
Piasio and her husband, Gregg, decided their daughter's best option was a cochlear implant, an electronic device that stimulates nerves in the inner ear, allowing a person to hear sounds. But to understand what those sounds meant, Sarah needed intensive therapy - therapy that Piasio and her husband had to arrange on their own.
Until hear ME now! opened in January, 2003, most Maine children with cochlear implants had to drive to Massachusetts for the help they needed.
In 1997, Laurie Piasio and Dorothy Eisenhaure, Sarah's speech-language pathologist, gathered together other concerned Maine parents and professionals. They began a campaign to promote literacy and language development for deaf and hard-of hearing children through early intervention and oral education.
Now, thanks to years of hope and hard work, Maine has the infant/toddler program and pre-school it needs for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. And even though their own child is too old to attend - Sarah Piasio is now 10 and attends public school in Falmouth - the founding members are happy just knowing that other children will have the opportunity to learn to speak and listen at an auditory oral school here in Maine.
"We are making a real difference in the lives of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Maine who are choosing to take advantage of the incredible technology available today," said Laurie Piasio, past president of the hear ME now! Board. "These children will learn to listen and speak with the help of specialized teachers and other professionals who are dedicated to oral education for deaf children.”
