WHY CONSIDER CUED SPEECH?

THE LANGUAGE OF YOUR HOME. For most parents, the language of their home is a spoken language (English, Spanish, Vietnamese, German, etc.) By using Cued Speech, these parents remain accurate language models for their children because they will cue a language they already know.

LITERACY. If a family's goals include literacy for their deaf children, CS is unlike other methods. Deaf children who grow up with a cued language achieve native competency in that language and enabling them to become literate adults.

SPEECHREADING. A significant part of cued language is the information found on the mouth. This component is identical to what people see when speechreading. This means that deaf children who cue often are skilled at receiving messages from speechreading alone, since it is part of what they are accustomed to seeing. Native users of a language also have an advantage over non-native users when it comes to speechreading.

SPEECH PRODUCTION. The ability to produce speech is NOT required for cueing. Cued English is a visual language. However, if speech is a goal for your family, cueing will be a valuable asset. Cueing makes the pronunications of words completely visible.