Cued Speech - A Communication Option for Deaf Students

What is Cued Speech?

Cued Speech is another means of communication and instruction that may make it possible for a deaf child to pick up English language skills. Cued speech is not a language, but a means of making spoken language visible. The hand movements used in cued speech represent sounds (phonemes), making it easier to visually learn what sounds are. This flexibility has enabled cued speech to be used in several countries and languages.

Origin of Cued Speech

Cued speech was invented in the 1960s by Dr. R. Orin Cornett. It has continued to establish itself as an educational option. The number of web sites with information on cued speech continues to grow, and more studies are being done.

Learning Cued Speech

Learning materials are available from the National Cued Speech Association. Cuedspeech.com, the website of the NCSA's Cued Speech Discovery bookstore, has a searchable online catalog of products for learning cued speech, learning about cued speech, and having fun with cued speech. People who want to try out cued speech right away can check out the website of the New England Cued Speech organization. The website has a demonstration video clip, and online instructions.

Cued Speech Transliterators

Users of sign language have sign language interpreters. Users of cued speech have cued speech transliterators. State and regional organization websites have lists of cued speech transliterators. Certified transliterators have been certified by the Testing, Evaluation, and Certification Unit (www.tecunit.org), which gives the Cued Language Transliterator National Certification Examination (CLTNCE).

Cued Speech Community

The National Cued Speech Association's website is www.cuedspeech.org. The NCSA has a member newsletter, On Cue, and publishes a scholarly journal, the Cued Speech Journal. Issues of On Cue can be downloaded from the NCSA website.

NCSA sponsors cued speech conferences, and has made papers from past conferences available online. An example of a paper presented at the 2006 conference: "Longitudinal study deaf child exposed to CS."

Cuedspeech.com also has online forums for people with questions about cued speech and seeking cued speech instructors and transliterators. According to cuedspeech.org, cued speech transliterators are scarce. The NCSA is trying to increase the supply by providing financial support to colleges for transliterator training.

Language Matters offers a Cued Language Transliterator Professional Education Series. The company brings training to various locations.

Cued Speech Camps and Instruction

Camps

The NCSA website lists cued speech camps for children and adults. In addition, the On Cue newsletter lists classes for learning and practicing cued speech.

Instruction

A listing of certified cued speech instructors by state (listed under resources) is also on the NCSA website. Cued speech instructors can also participate in the Yahoo group CSInstructors.

Additional Cued Speech Websites

Cuedspeech.info is an independent website about cued speech. The site duplicates some of the information available on the other cued speech websites, and also offers additional links and information. Another independent website is DailyCues.com. Dailycues.com offers online games and an event calendar.

Cued Speech Articles, Books, and Video

Many articles have been published on cued speech. Cuedspeech.org offers several downloadable PDF articles in its Viewpoints section. The Fall 2003 issue of Odyssey magazine had four articles on cued speech, downloadable as PDF files:

• Research And Theory Support Cued Speech
• Phonemic Awareness Through Immersion In Cued American English
• Cued Speech & American Sign Language Hand In Hand
• Communicating Via Cued Speech

A check of the indexed articles of American Annals of the Deaf (1991 to present) turned up these articles on cued speech:

• Charlier, B. L.,(1992) Complete Signed and Cued French, 137(4), 331-337.
• Paul, P. (1999). Cued Language Structure: An Analysis of Cued American English Based on Linguistic Principles. [Media Review]. 144(1), 4-6.
• Hernández, R. S., Monreal, S. T., & Orza, J. G. (2003) “The Role of Cued Speech in the Development of Spanish Prepositions,” (4), 323–32.

More articles were published in the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. A sampling:

• Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of Linguistic Input Support to a Prelingually Deaf Child With Cued Speech: A Case Study. J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ., Fall 2006; 11: 438 - 448.
• Rhyme Generation in Deaf Students: The Effect of Exposure to Cued Speech. J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ., Summer 2003; 8: 250 - 270.
• Visual Speech in the Head: The Effect of Cued-Speech on Rhyming, Remembering, and Spelling. J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ., Fall 1996; 1: 234 - 248.

Gallaudet University library also has many materials related to cued speech, including archival films. A search of the library catalog turned up more than 60 items related to cued speech.

The Described and Captioned Media Program has the following video material on cued speech:

• #8411 An adventure in cued speech
• #11757 Cue that word! Deluxe
• #8700 Discovering cued speech (can be viewed online)

Cued speech is not just for deaf children. While doing the research for this article, I learned that it can be used with children who have other disabilities, such as down syndrome, autism, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder.