Cued Speech

Maria - posted on 07/04/2011

My 6 year old ellianna is Deaf. we did not find this out until she was 4 years old. because while she is deaf she still talks. however her speech was very unclear. I found out that even though she couldn't really hear what was being said to her she could read lips and by reading lips she was imitating speech. knowing this we start using speech cues on her and they use them in school with her as well. she was recently diagnosed with autism as well. but she is still in regular classes the speech cues and classroom interventions have made all the difference to her. Unless you knew she had a problem you wouldn't be able to tell by her grades. she is doing extremely well. So good luck! and i wish you and your son great success. it can be a long journey. but remember to never let him use his hearing problem as an excuse for "I can't". And don't let teachers do it to him either. He can. He can do anything he wants to in life. he might have to do it a little differently. But he CAN succeed just like my daughter. god bless you both

Bliss - posted on 07/04/2011

Hi, Lyndsey.
I have a 3 year boy named Christian that also has profound hearing loss in the right ear and his left ear gets monitiored often to make sure it stays in the normal range. My son is speech delayed and uses sign to help him communicate. He was born with life threatening complications that caused damage to the auditory nerve in the brain which caused the loss. Thought it was cool we had boys with unilateral profound hearing loss with the same name. :) How is your Christian doing now?

Lyndsay - posted on 04/10/2009

You could check  your local library and see if they have any dvds. I also heard that there is a tutor online at Skype. Hope this helps...

Lyndsay - posted on 04/10/2009

Thank you so much for all that information!! I am so excited for my sun to learn it. I belive it well be a huge help for him!! Thanks again!

Liz - posted on 04/09/2009

I noticed this hasnt seemed to hit Iowa yet.. is cued speech hard to learn over the internet?

Katherine - posted on 04/09/2009

Cued Speech is a visual representation of spoken language. Although the name implies speech, it is really about language. Making spoken language visible. Here is an explanation of Cued Speech from the Cued Speech Association of Minnesota's website (www.cuedspeechminnesota.org), which I am a member of. (There are also some great video examples and links on the site, which I'd encourage you to check out.)



"Cued Speech is a visual communication system which, in English, uses eight handshapes in four different positions around the face in combination with the natural mouth movements of speech to make all of the sounds (phonemes) of spoken language look different. Phonemes are the smallest unit of English, or the building blocks, that distinguish one word from another. One cue, therefore, is a combination of a handshape, position, and mouth movement. This combination creates clear and unambiguous spoken language access for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Using the system of Cued Speech to convey a traditionally spoken language provides access to the following additional critical components of that language: phonemic awareness, syntax (sentence word order), semantics (vocabulary, word meanings), morphology (word endings) and idioms.



The visual representation of a spoken language using Cued Speech produces phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness does not have to be acoustic, it can be visual, via Cued Speech. Phonemic awareness is a prerequisite skill to being a successful reader and is the best predictor of how well children will learn to read during their first two years in school. Cued Speech allows deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to "internalize" the language they see."



I hope that helps. I'd be happy to share more.

Portia - posted on 04/09/2009

I have heard of cued speech. I think its great! whatever gets our kids TALKING! My son Bryson goes to an auditory oral deaf school in sacramento called CCHAT (childrens choice for hearing and talking). We love it there :) To get this straight cued speech for example is when you take a letter like F that is hard to sound out and they cue them by pushing there hands forward? Is that right?

Katherine - posted on 04/06/2009

My family has been using Cued Speech since my daughter was eight months old. She's now 9. I am the former President of the Cued Speech Association of Minnesota. You'll find a lot of great info on that website and links to national organizations as well: www.cuedspeechminnesota.org. I'd be happy to share our experiences in more detail.

Calley - posted on 03/30/2009

the reason we found out about her hearing loss so early was because she had a congenital virus that most commonly causes hearing and vision problems with cognitive problems as well. the NICU had her tested very early in our 6 week stay and she failed both tests then they did the ABR and gave her a diagnosis of profound loss.



she wouldn't startle at all when the baby in the room with us would cry real loud, nor the loud beeping noises either. the cochlear implant is amazing. it is a nuissance at times, but so are the hearing aids. she could hear us immediately when they turned it on! it was awesome, and she smiled and laughed at the new sound.



it seems that there are many causes of hearing loss. i have a friend that has a son who is using aids but in the process of evaluating for the CI and they have no idea why he is deaf either. that must be frustrating.



good luck with your son.

Lyndsay - posted on 03/30/2009

Hi,

My son uses an FM system in his right ear to help him hear better. A hearing aid wont work on him. We did use sign for awhile but he speaks so well now that we dont really use it. Cued speech is great. He will only need it fo certain sounds that he can not hear very well. Like s, ka, or f. He has a hard time with those sounds. Cueing it gives him a visual reminder to pronounce them correctly.

I think that it is so amazing that you found out about your daughter so early!!  How do you like the cochlear implant?? We had looked into that for my son. We are still unsure of why he has no hearing in his right ear. We get his hearing in his left ear checked every 6 months. They say that children with unilateral hearing loss could easily start to lose hearing in their "good" ear. We are going today for that appt.

Calley - posted on 03/29/2009

I've never heard of this, but I am excited to learn more about it. I will ask my daughter's teacher of the hearing impaired. My girl is 17 mos. and she is profoundly deaf in both ears. She uses a HA in her left ear and has a Cochlear Implant on the right side. She may need to use this kind of cued speech one day so thank you for opening this topic up. Good luck with your son.

Does he use sign language at all? We have been signing with our daughter since she was 5 wks at her diagnosis.