Cued Speech? Easy? Sure! As a native deaf signer, I had no idea there was practice involved. I thought Cued Speech would be as easy as ASL just hands flying in the air. After all, I have been signing using a total communication approach since I was a child in the Deaf Education Program in Neptune, of Monmouth County in NJ.
As I sat in the beginner class taught by Barbara Lee at Spring Camp Cheerio, I soon realized that Cued Speech is based on phonemic principles. I havent had good formal phonetics training since grade school. Being the only deaf native signer, I sat in the front of the classroom. I was anxious because I dont cue and had no sign language interpreter. I had forgotten to request one. I quickly learned the hand shapes and placements. I began to relax a little bit because my classmates struggled, too and they are hearing. I finally can see how I can utilize Cued Speech with my hearing family, friends and work colleagues and it has been successful.
Spring Camp Cheerio also gave me my first experience camping in the mountaintop near the Appalachian Trail in Glade Valley, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I found comfort at the round table during breakfast,lunch and dinnertime where everyone can see and communicate easily just like in the ASL community. Much to my relief I had a sign language interpreter in the cafeteria. Spring Camp Camp Cheerio was quick and understanding to accommodate for me.
With ASL as my third language, Cued Speech increases my ability to lip-read better while using my residual hearing from my hearing aids or even without. For the first time, in my professional point of view, I witnessed that language development was the essential key to Cued Speech. It is truly a wonderful link in communication and literacy for the deaf and hard of hearing community. The successes of the native deaf kids and adult cuers spoke for themselves and blew me away. I have made friends (Barbara Lee and Aaron Rose to list a couple) who share my passion for literacy acquisition. Its my hope that with support, a dual approach of Cued Speech and ASL wil enable our children to have the language skills and well rounded talents to succeed in this competitive world.
Camps are a wonderful introduction to acquire and maintain fluency. By the end of the three-day weekend among the rolling hills, fresh air and new colleagues, my eyes and brain were so tired. As a native signer since age four, I had thought absorbing another visual mode would be a piece of cake not! Nevertheless, the learning experience left me with a desire to go to Cue Camp Virginia and try to cue without using my plastic card of the system for spoken English. I attended, indeed, but my personal testimony from there will be continued next time, so stay tuned!
