Now, like hearing children, deaf children can access a synthetic phonic literacy programme with the help of groundbreaking new software developed by Alan Davies and his team at THRASS UK - with input from the Cued Speech Association UK. A new version of the acclaimed THRASS software, called the Phoneme Machine, will give deaf children access to synthetic phonics by including a Cued Speech option in which the shapes, positions and movements of Cued Speech will be displayed alongside the moving human lips, with the cue for each of the 500 basewords of English demonstrated through video clips.
The Phoneme Machine will give, for the first time, an interactive literacy/phonics resource for deaf children. Combined with Cued Speech it has the potential to transform the way that deaf children learn to read.
After a review of evidence the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) recommend that all children learn to read using synthetic phonics which teaches children the 44 sounds of English, their various spelling choices and how these can be combined into words. Cued Speech users know, through research and case studies, that deaf children brought up with Cued Speech can learn to read using the same phonetic techniques as hearing children and achieve the same level of literacy as hearing children. As yet the DCSF has not made any recommendations about how deaf children should be taught to read. Anne Worsfold, Executive Director of the Cued Speech Association UK, has written to Ed Balls, MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families requesting a meeting with herself and Alan Davies of THRASS to discuss deaf children's literacy and access to Phonics.
The Phoneme Machine will be launched at the Bett Show (billed as the worlds largest educational technology event) 14 -17 January in Olympia, London and will be available free to 800,000 teachers who will receive it on a memory stick in early 2009 through the
http://www.alldeaf.com/computers-electronics-gaming/www.memory4teachers.co.uk ICT initiative. It can be used with or without the Cued Speech option.
Alternatively it can be downloaded from the THRASS website. To register for the free download please go to:
www.thrass.co.uk/cuedspeech.htm.
