Northern Virginia Cued Speech Association
NVCSA is an all-volunteer organization providing Education, Advocacy, and Support for families and professionals using cued language with children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Cueing is a communication modality (recognized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) offering unambiguous visual representation of all phonemes/sounds of spoken English and other languages. Adapted to over 65 languages/dialects, cueing enables families to model the language of the home, allowing acquisition of the phonemic awareness and language needed for kindergarten readiness, literacy, and academic success. Cued American English is used in our local school system.
Since 2003, NVCSA has hosted Cue Camp Virginia, a fun learning weekend for families and professionals to learn - or improve - their cueing skills and interact with other cuers. Camp is held annually during the first full weekend in October.
NVCSA is an all-volunteer organization providing Education, Advocacy, and Support for families and professionals using cued language with children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Cueing is a communication modality (recognized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) offering unambiguous visual representation of all phonemes/sounds of spoken English and other languages. Adapted to over 65 languages/dialects, cueing enables families to model the language of the home, allowing acquisition of the phonemic awareness and language needed for kindergarten readiness, literacy, and academic success. Cued American English is used in our local school system.
Since 2003, NVCSA has hosted Cue Camp Virginia, a fun learning weekend for families and professionals to learn - or improve - their cueing skills and interact with other cuers. Camp is held annually during the first full weekend in October.
Events
Cue Camp Virginia is a fun learning weekend for families and professionals who want to learn to cue or enhance their cueing skills. It's a great opportunity to learn more about the Cued Speech system for Cued American English, with presentations by professionals addressing the effects of cueing on language acquisition and literacy. Children participate in classes as well as a wide variety of fun activities (many hosted by 4H staff members) while engaging in age-appropriate groups with cueing leaders and deaf mentors. Adult classes are offered at Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Cued Language Transliterator levels, with instructors certified by the National Cued Speech Association. General Registration opens in August, 2024.
Learn the entire Cued American English system in seven 2-hour classes on the following dates: July 1, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, and 25.
NVCSA will host an Exhibitor booth at this annual conference for teachers and other staff members supporting students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) in Virginia's public schools. Advocacy is one o NVCSA's core mission principles! Teachers of the Deaf must know what cueing is and understand its benefits so they can explain it to parents of students who are DHH.
DoMore24 is our annual online fundraiser under the umbrella of United Way of the National Capital Area. This campaign helps nonprofits throughout the region to raise awareness about their causes and to raise funds that are critical to their operations. DoMore24 is the primary fundraiser for NVCSA’s mission of Education, Advocacy and Support for cuers in our area.
For the third year in a row, NVCSA sponsored a visit from Kona Ice of Annandale and Burke. Thanks to Trung Hoang (serving the ices in the attached photo) for donating extra ices beyond the 125 that we contracted! Picnickers lined up for their favorite flavors of the icy treat!
F.A.Q
Cued Speech is a system of one-handed 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.
Cued American English 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) to allow users to cue continuous speech at the same rate as they speak.
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 to convey. As your child learns to read your cues and 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.
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 degree to which children benefit from cueing correlates directly to the amount of consistent cueing they receive.
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 signed languages, 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, dead battery, etc.).
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!).
Make A Donation
Can you donate $24? Our goal is to raise $5,000 to help with the increased costs of Cue Camp Virginia and other NVCSA activities.
Contact
- Fairfax, VA, United States
- P.O. Box 2733 Fairfax, VA 22031-2733