There are 44 sounds in the English language. When
lip-reading, however, many of these sounds look
similar or are invisible.
Cued Speech uses 12 different cues (eight handshapes and four positions) at the same time as speech (or the lip-patterns of speech). These 12 cues,
when added to the lip-patterns, make every soundbased unit of English totally clear. Cued Speech has been described as assisted lip-reading.
To learn to cue it is simply necessary to learn which of the 12 cues to use for each of the sounds and the very simple rules for putting the cues together. Once the system has been learnt any word can be cued.
Remember:
• explaining Cued Speech can be hard
• demonstrating Cued Speech is easy.
Almost all students learn in 20 hours, some in much less time. But at the end of the course it is normal to cue very slowly - speed and fluency can be built up through practice and by attending improvers and advanced courses. These courses also give practice in reading the cues of others and in cueing
expressively.
So...yes, you can learn to cue in 20 hours.
