Our Expert TeamThe professionals at hear ME now! are dedicated to advancing Auditory Oral/Auditory Verbal Deaf Education options for Maine’s hearing impaired communityMeet the team whose mission is to bring listening and spoken language to every Maine child or adult faced with any degree of hearing loss that has chosen to listen and speak. Our team includes a certified early childhood special educator, certified speech/language pathologists, certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS), an Educational Audiologist, and certified auditory oral Teachers of the Deaf who specialize in the Listening and Spoken Language approach. Carrie Chojnowski, MS, CCC/SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT
In the summer of 2006, after passing an evaluation video of her therapy as well as the LSLS exam, Carrie was officially certified as Maine’s first Listening and Spoken Language Specialist/Certified Auditory-Verbal therapist. Currently, she works with families with children from birth-12 years of age and their parents and many adults with cochlear implants. She also serves as board chair of the Maine Newborn Hearing Screening board for the state of Maine, and facilitates Maine’s first adult cochlear implant club Currently, she works with families with children from birth-12 years of age and adults with cochlear implants. She provides consultative services to public school staff in management/troubleshooting of assistive technologies of mainstreamed students. Cathy Janelle, MS, CCC/SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT
Julie Neumann, M.E.D., M.A., CCC-A, LSLS Cert. AVEd.
In the fall of 2010, Julie moved to Maine and began working at hear ME now!. She is working with a variety of community based preschool programs in a pilot program to promote spoken language and listening strategies in the classroom. Katelyn Driscoll, M.E.D.
Katelyn continues to broaden her skills in auditory-oral deaf education. She presented this past October at the Clarke School for the Deaf Mainstream Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts on the role of the auditory-oral teacher of the deaf in the mainstream setting. She traveled to the Dominican Republic in 2007 to lead a five-day teacher training program on the auditory-verbal approach to teach listening and spoken language skills to deaf and hard of hearing children. She attended the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing National Conference in 2008 and 2010. She is currently completing requirements to become a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS Cert-AVEd) Pam Dawson, M.Ed.
In 1990, she opened Building Blocks Preschool - an inclusive early education program that served over 450 families in 17 years. She enjoyed the opportunity to work as a member of a team of professionals all focused on addressing the needs of young children. She continues to find that spirit of team collaboration with the committed professionals at hear ME now! Pam’s personal connection with music of all kinds drew her to her present work at hear ME now!. She feels fortunate to be a part of an organization that brings the shared human experience of listening to and participating in music to children with hearing loss. Ready to discover how Auditory Oral/Auditory Verbal Deaf Education can help you or your child? Contact us for a consultation. |
Carrie has been working in the field of hearing loss since 2001. She obtained her +30 Master’s degree at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in Speech-language Pathology. During her time at MGH, she developed a strong interest in working with children with hearing loss and cochlear implants. Immediately after getting her Master’s degree, Carrie took a job at Clarke School East in Canton, MA ~ an auditory-oral school for the deaf where she worked for three years. Carrie loved Clarke East, but being a Maine native, always wanted to return to the Maine way of life. Carrie began at hear ME now! in 2003.
Cathy has nearly 20 years experience serving young children and families. Following graduation from the University of Maine’s Communication Disorders program, she worked as a public school speech clinician for several years. Later, she coordinated special services for children for children within a large Community Action Program that operated Head Start centers throughout rural Alaska.While working in Alaska, Cathy discovered her passion for quality early intervention services. She then received her Master’s degree from the University of
Julie has been working with children with hearing loss for over a decade. In 1999, she completed her master’s degree in Audiology from the University of Connecticut’s Childhood Hearing Impairment Program (CHIP). While enrolled in the CHIP, Julie learned that children with hearing loss could learn to listen and speak through intensive aural habilitation and use of technology such as cochlear implants and hearing aids. Julie realized she could combine her knowledge in audiology with her childhood dream of being a teacher, and went back to school to become an auditory-oral teacher of the deaf. She received a Master’s in Education of the Deaf in 2001 from Smith College in conjunction with Clarke School for Hearing and Speech. Julie worked at Clarke’s Northampton campus as a school audiologist. A year later, she transferred to the Clarke’s Boston Area Campus, where she worked for the next eight years.
Katelyn has worked in the field of deaf education since 2001. Her initial training in the field of auditory-oral deaf education started at SoundWorks for Children, an auditory-oral program for the deaf and hard of hearing in Massachusetts. Katelyn has been working at hear ME now! since the fall of 2006 after graduating with a Master’s degree from the Smith College Graduate Teacher Education Program. As an auditory-oral teacher of the deaf, Katelyn has worked collaboratively with families, preschools, and many public school systems while providing guidance and training in language and auditory development for children who are deaf and hard of hearing using an auditory-oral approach in the state of Maine.
Pam has been working in the field of Early Intervention for over 20 years. She holds dual undergraduate degrees in Early Childhood Development and Education, a Masters degree in Early Intervention from the University of Maine and has completed the Professional Preparation in Cochlear Implants (PPCI) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Before joining hear ME now! in 2007, Pam worked with young children with developmental delays and their families in both home and classroom settings throughout rural Maine.