Cued Speech is a system of 8 handshapes and 4 placements around the mouth, that you use while speaking, to make every sound you say VISIBLE.  You can read the official definition and find out more on the Cued Speech website – www.CuedSpeech.org.

Lipreading alone does not give you full visual access to spoken language.  In fact, some statistics say only 30-40% on average.  That’s a lot of missing information!  Many mouth shapes are ambiguous – for example /m/, /b/, and /p/ all look the same on the mouth.  Some sounds are invisible on the mouth – for example /k/, /g/, and /ng/ are all made in the back of your throat and the mouth looks neutral.  Several vowels also share a neutral mouth shape.

When a single little phoneme (spoken sound) has the power to alter the entire meaning of a word, missing even a little can alter a person’s perception of language.  A young child still developing language must have access to all of it, phonemic awareness is crucial later when learning to read.  Fluency in a language is necessary for success – successful relationships, success in school, success as a working adult.

What can I cue? 

Cued Speech not only gives someone access to words, it also gives a person access to accents and dialects, onomatopoeia (achoo, vroom, woof), technical jargon, foreign languages, and even gibberish – “Twas brillig in the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe…” (from The Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carrol).  

Why cue when I could sign? 

ASL is a language all on its own with a history and a culture to go along with it. ASL and English are very different in structure as well as sheer volume of vocabulary.

Children learn language best when exposed to a complete and fluent model from birth.  Children (deaf and hearing) of culturally Deaf parents, who get complete and fluent ASL modeled to them from birth, have normal language development.  Unfortunately, hearing parents are unable to give their deaf children a language they’re still learning themselves, and a lot of the time they end up giving their child an ASL/English hybrid which is neither one nor the other.  This is harmful to the child’s language development and can lead to years of struggling with language later.  I speak from personal experience – my mother’s native language is Korean and her English is terrible.  She was my language model and I struggled with English all through elementary school.

Also, ASL has no written component.  Even culturally Deaf signers must learn to read and write in English.  This has historically been a struggle, as ASL offers no phonemic information and signers have limited phonemic awareness, which is a crucial component of early literacy.  

Lingua Franca and the Language of the Home

English is the Lingua Franca – or the Common Language – here in the US.  No matter what language is used in the home, children go to school in English.  A child from a Spanish-speaking home wouldn’t get a Spanish interpreter at school, they would be expected to learn and use English at school.  By the same logic, deaf children should also learn and use English at school, even if ASL is the language of the home.  Families are an important source of culture and personal history, but outside the home, mastery of English ensures success in American society.  Don’t all parents want their children to succeed, to acheive their dreams?  Doctors, lawyers, astronauts, and presidents all need to be strong users of English!