Northern Virginia Cued Speech Association

Cued Speech was developed at Gallaudet University in the mid-1960s by Dr. R. Orin Cornett to help children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing acquire complete language, become literate, and maximize their academic potential. Cued Speech is a system of handshapes (representing consonant sounds) used in placements around the mouth (representing vowel sounds) and synchronized with the normal mouth movements of spoken languages. Cued Speech allows all the individual phonemes (sounds) of languages that are traditionally spoken to be made visually complete, unique and unambiguous. Cued Speech systems have been adapted for over 65 languages and dialects.

When a Cued Speech system is applied to a language that is typically spoken, it becomes cued language. In the United States, Cued American English (CAE) is used by many families and school systems. CAE uses combinations of 8 consonant handshapes in 4 vowel placements to represent 40 different phonemes (sounds) used in spoken English. Cueing is accomplished in consonant-vowel pairs (a consonant handshape cued at a vowel placement) allowing users to cue continuous speech at the rate that they speak.

Cueing is the mode of communication that takes place when cued language is expressed. Cueing is recognized under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Virginia Guide for Teachers of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Cueing can be used alone, or in a language development program that includes other modes of communication such as speaking and signing.

Cueing is not a new language that takes years to learn; cueing is a manual system that is applied to a language that you already know (similar to typing). Cueing proficiency is based on the muscle memory developed through practice.

The entire Cued American English system is taught in 12-16 classroom hours. Classes are offered virtually and in-person at workshops and camps.

Accuracy is the most important element of cueing. Slow, accurate cueing allows your child/student to learn to read your cues and attach meaning to them.  As you become more confident (through practice), you can build speed to develop greater fluency.

Intermediate and advanced level classes are available to reinforce developing skills and to prepare people to become Cued Language Transliterators. 

No! Cueing makes all the phonemes of traditionally-spoken languages visually unique, complete, and unambiguous. This means that the cued representation of spoken phonemes does not require any access to sound to convey complete language.

Cueing can benefit children with hearing at all levels. (Even children with small degrees of hearing loss can miss small parts of words that are essential to meaning.) The benefit children receive from cueing correlates directly to the amount of consistent cueing they receive at home and/or at school.

1. Cueing allows hearing parents to immediately provide visual access to the spoken language of the home, ensuring family bonding and access to the family's culture, values, history, and inside jokes.

2. Early and consistent access to complete language enables language acquisition at the rate of typically-hearing peers, providing the language base needed for literacy and the opportunity for full kindergarten readiness.

3. For families that use a signed language at home, cueing offers complete access to the traditionally-spoken languages that are required to be written and read in school. (American Sign Language does not have a written form. Additionally, it was developed by French speakers and its word order and grammar are not parallel to English.) Using cueing to teach English keeps the two languages separate and intact, allowing access to both complete, correct languages.

4. Use of Cued American English in school (either through direct instruction or via a Cued Language Transliterator) provides verbatim access to the language of the teacher, the curriculum, the books that are read, and the standardized tests that measure comprehension and eventually provide entry to college or other institutions.

5. Cueing pairs well with cochlear implants and other hearing technology. It can help a child to place the sounds of various phonemes on an internal language map, labeling sounds and facilitating their recognition through audition alone.

6. Cueing is a great resource for the times that a child is not using technology (bed, bath, water sports, etc.). It is also a ​seamless fallback for times when batteries die or technology fails. ​

7. Cueing can help with fine-tuning speech production by labeling target sounds and identifying sounds that are actually produced.

8. Because cueing is phonemically based, it allows access to the phonemes of other languages. Users of Cued American English can learn the same foreign languages as their hearing peers (with the same American accents!).

1. Cued Speech was developed expressly for the purpose of enhancing literacy development for deaf children. Cueing allows unambiguous visual access to the phonemes of English and directly supports phonics-based reading programs such as Orton-Gillingham. 

2. Early and consistent preschool access to complete language through cueing enables language acquisition at the rate of typically-hearing peers, providing the language base needed for literacy and the opportunity for full kindergarten readiness.

3. Use of Cued American English in school (either through direct instruction or via a Cued Language Transliterator) provides verbatim access to the language of the teacher, the vocabulary of curriculum, the books that are read, and the standardized tests that measure academic success.

4. Cueing pairs well with cochlear implants  and other hearing technology. It can help a child to place the sounds of various phonemes on an internal language map, labeling sounds and facilitating their recognition through audition alone, if that is a goal.

5. Cueing is a seamless fallback for technology failures such as as dead batteries, lost or broken components, or poor listening environments. It ensures equal access for orally administered test instructions or evaluations such as spelling tests.

6. Cueing can help with fine-tuning speech production by labeling target sounds and identifying sounds that are actually produced.

7. Because cueing is phonemically based, it allows access to the phonemes of other languages. Users of Cued American English can learn the same foreign languages as their hearing peers (with the same American accents!).

8. Cueing is not exclusive. It teams well with other communication modalities and can also provide visual phonemic redundancy for students with a wide range of language-learning challenges.