Cued Speech - Cued Speech and Literacy

Cued Speech and Literacy

Cued Speech is based on the hypothesis that if all the sounds in the spoken language looked clearly different from each other on the lips of the speaker, the hearing impaired would learn the language in much the same way as does the hearing person, but through vision rather than audition.

Cued Speech was developed with the intent of improving literacy rates among children. Even today, one argument made by advocates of Cued Speech for English users is that literacy rates for reading English are significantly lower in those who learn American Sign Language than those who learn Cued Speech. This difference typically is attributed to ASL being a distinct language from English, with its own syntax and lexical patterns, whereas Cued Speech is not a language but simply a method of making spoken sounds visible.

In her paper "The Relationship Between Phonological Coding And Reading Achievement In Deaf Children: Is Cued Speech A Special Case?" (1998), Ostrander notes, "Research has consistently shown a link between lack of phonological awareness and reading disorders (Jenkins & Bowen, 1994)" and discusses the research basis for teaching Cued Speech as an aid to phonological awareness and literacy. Ostrander concludes that further research into these areas is needed and well justified.

The editor of the Cued Speech Journal reports that "Research indicating that Cued Speech does greatly improve the reception of spoken language by profoundly deaf children was reported in 1979 by Gaye Nicholls, and in 1982 by Nicholls and Ling."