Northern Virginia Cued Speech Association (NVCSA)

What is Cued Speech

Cued Speech is a system consisting of one hand synchronized with the natural mouth movements of spoken language. In English the hand shows eight different hand shapes, representing 25 different consonant sounds, used in four different positions around the mouth, representing 15 unique vowel sounds.

Cued Speech helps the deaf person attach meaning to auditory information and helps to clarify the phonology of the spoken language.

Can Cued Speech Be Used With Other Communication Systems?

YES! Cued Speech complements all the various auditory and signed language approaches. The typical deaf cuer is flexible, able to communicate with speech, speechreading, Cued Speech, and signed language.

Why Should Cued Speech Be Used?

Literacy is the original and primary goal of Cued Speech, by providing the appropriate phonemic language base for learning to read. Cued Speech also supports the development of lipreading, auditory discrimination, and speech.

Cued Speech can be adapted to more than 55 different languagles and dialects. Cued Speech associations and centers are located around the world.

What is NVCSA

The Northern Virginia Cued Speech Association (NVCSA) provides "Advocacy", "Education" and "Support" for families and professionals who choose to use Cued Speech with deaf or hard of hearing children.

NVCSA provides support for professionals by helping with Cued Speech instruction, expressing appreciation for the efforts of school professionals, and also funding contributions to the Cued Speech Library.