Cued Speech

Cued speech is a system of communication togrammatical structure and syntax, whereas Cued
supplement lip reading by the use of hand signals nearSpeech is merely an addition to spoken English.
the mouth. It is used by people with a learning, speech,The outcomes of cued speech use;
communication and language needs. It is comprised of- Audition. Because Cueing your speech improves the
eight hand shapes formed at four locations around theprocessing of auditory information, it breaks down the
mouth to make sounds visible, and is used toconfusion from incomplete and distorted sound. The
differentiate sounds that appear similar on the lips, suchindividual can then improve their speech discrimination
as 'p' and 'b'.significantly.
Although the technique uses hand shapes to convey- Cochlear Implants and Speech that is Cued.
meaning, it is not a replacement to American or BritishResearch indicates that if children who already use
sign language. It isn't a sign language; it is a manualcued speech then get an implant, they become used
method of showing the dialect at a phonetic level.to the phonemes they receive through the implant
Cued Speech was created in 1966, and has sincesooner. Children who are born deaf and learn Cued
been adapted to cueing around 60 dialects. For tonalSpeech are more easily habilitated after cochlear
languages, such as many Asian languages, tone issurgery.
indicated by movement of the hand.- Language. Deaf children can comfortably master the
Benefits of Cueing Speech over British Sign Languagesyntax and grammar of a language after
are that it is easier to learn, as it is only an addition toapproximately 4 years usage. It is common for a child
spoken English. To families who have had nowho has mastered one language to then become
experience with languages before, and are findingbilingual or multilingual.
themselves helping their deaf children, Cued Speech- Reading and Literacy. Children who learn a language
may be the fastest way to develop a method ofthrough the cued technique generally use the same
communication.reading strategies to those who are not deaf.
Clearly with every pro there is a con. Sign Language- Speechreading. Continued exposure to the technique
has its merits in education as it is assessed literacyimproves speechreading in cued and non cued
rates are higher than English with Cued Speech. Thesituations.
difference is typically attributed to BSL having its own