Presbyterian Ear Institute
Presbyterian Ear Institute
Presbyterian Ear Institute (PEI) offers hope in breaking the silence for children and adults with hearing loss by providing a comprehensive approach to the early diagnosis, intervention, education, and rehabilitation of deafness.
NM’s largest cochlear implant center and its only early intervention program focused on teaching children with hearing loss to listen and speak, PEI intervenes in the “neurological emergency of childhood hearing loss” (Dimity Dornan) by capitalizing on the 90% of brain development that takes place by age five, mitigating the lifelong effects of hearing loss on literacy, educational achievement, and vocational opportunities.
Through specialized staff, state-wide partnerships, systematic intervention, and research-based curricula and assessment on vocabulary, language comprehension/expression, play, and speech, PEI has changed the lives of more than 200 students and their families.
"The news that my two-year-old was deaf overwhelmed me. ‘He has never heard my voice,’ I thought," said one mother of a recent PEI graduate. "After research and discussion, my husband and I decided on cochlear implants. Our doctor told us they alone were simply tools, useless unless we taught him HOW to use them. That is where PEI Oral School came in. They partnered with us to teach our son how to hear, listen, and speak. We worked hard: talked and read and sang and talked. His teachers worked hard, using their wealth of knowledge and experience. HE WORKED HARD. Slowly, he began to gain more words and understanding. His single words became two- and three-word sentences and complex sentences. It seemed slow at first, but suddenly it was BOOM! He graduated from PEI and is successfully attending mainstream school. He will use his voice and his love to CHANGE THINGS! He wouldn’t have this opportunity had it not been for PEI."
Learn more about Presbyterian Ear Institute
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited its Santa Fe Baby Fund grantees to submit stories related to its January topic of Early Childhood.
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