Cued speech for adults?

RoseRodent

RoseRodent

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
368
Reaction score
7
I have been looking at various communication options for a while, wondering what might best suit my needs. I have concluded that full on sign BSL is probably not for me. Why? Well, because the essence of communication is to have someone to communicate with. I don't have friends who can sign and people are not going to go out and learn, but Cued Speech is a very easy thing to learn. I was surprised looking at it that the focus is entirely on children. I can see how it helps children in education to relate to phonics, but I can also see how it might alleviate some of the frustration of the late deafened, who have a hearing community around them, who do not have BSL/ASL users and who in any case often feel a disconnect with that community as it takes so many years to master these new languages.

I might have a look at doing some small-scale research on the use of Cued Speech among late deafened and HoH adults, but wondered does anyone have any experience of cueing with/as adults? It seems like a good middle ground between trying to get everything from lipreading alone and having to learn a whole new language which you can then only use with those equally committed to learning it. By comparison you can probably persuade all but the most stick in the mud friends, family and colleagues to learn to cue.
 
RoseRodent said:
By comparison you can probably persuade all but the most stick in the mud friends, family and colleagues to learn to cue.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I wouldn't hold your breathe on that one.
It DOES take a lot of work, practice etc to use, and because it's phonic based they have to think about how every word sounds as they speak it and then cue while talking.

It might not take as long to learn as sign language - but it's still a heavy commitment which should be undertaken with the help of a cuing teacher (good luck finding one) instead of making it up yourselves based on limited website and print info.

At least with sign language they'd be able to communicate with other Hoh/Deaf in the future - with cuing, that's not going to happen since very very few people know how to cue at all (probably far less than 1% of Hoh/deaf people could even demonstrate a single handshape, let alone actaully cue/understanding cuing)
 
I understand, Rose, in why you're thinking BSL/ASL isn't feasible for you if you have no one to use it with. But who will you use Cued Speech with, especially if your family doesn't make enough of an effort? Honestly, in all my 40 years of being deaf, I have to yet to run across even one person using it.
 
I learned cued speech when I was in the second grade and I stopped using it in the 4th grade. I've forgotten cued speech.

I know a deaf woman (we were classmates in the oral program) who used to use cued speech with her mother till mom died but she doesn't cue with any one else. Her hearing husband has said he prefers sign to cued speech. She's still oral out of respect to her mother.
 
AlleyCat said:
Honestly, in all my 40 years of being deaf, I have to yet to run across even one person using it.
Click to expand...

I've only seen 2 people cuing to each other - they were new immigrants to Canada, and where cuing in their first language (Hindi, I believe?) and where in the process of learning ASL.
 
I keep seeing the title of this thread and thinking it says "Cued speech for audists?" :P
 
deafskeptic said:
I learned cued speech when I was in the second grade and I stopped using it in the 4th grade. I've forgotten cued speech.

.
Click to expand...

Now here's a question........Deafskpetic is in her mid 40's. Cued speech proponets push it as something that's NEW! Yet, it was around and used when adults who are now in their forties were little kids. How come there wasn't an enourmous burst of literacy from the use of Cued Speech?
 
deafdyke said:
Now here's a question........Deafskpetic is in her mid 40's. Cued speech proponets push it as something that's NEW! Yet, it was around and used when adults who are now in their forties were little kids. How come there wasn't an enourmous burst of literacy from the use of Cued Speech?
Click to expand...

Terrible argument, as Deafskeptic is obviously hyper-literate.
 
Anij said:
Honestly, I wouldn't hold your breathe on that one.
It DOES take a lot of work, practice etc to use, and because it's phonic based they have to think about how every word sounds as they speak it and then cue while talking.

It might not take as long to learn as sign language - but it's still a heavy commitment which should be undertaken with the help of a cuing teacher (good luck finding one) instead of making it up yourselves based on limited website and print info.

At least with sign language they'd be able to communicate with other Hoh/Deaf in the future - with cuing, that's not going to happen since very very few people know how to cue at all (probably far less than 1% of Hoh/deaf people could even demonstrate a single handshape, let alone actaully cue/understanding cuing)
Click to expand...

Right on Anji! Cued speech is EXACTLY like Esperanto. It's used and all...but it's too obscure to be of much use. It's also basicly like using visual Hooked on Phonics.
 
I don't remember if i met any adults who use cued speech. I met either, oral, see or ASL.
 
Frisky Feline said:
I don't remember if i met any adults who use cued speech. I met either, oral, see or ASL.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the thing is while dhh kids may use cued speech as a classroom tool, very few dhh adults actively use it....or they use it as a secondary tool rather then as a primary tool.
 
RoseRodent, I imagine cued speech is useful only if people use it. Realistically speaking, who would use cued speech asides from family members and teachers?
 
RoseRodent said:
Please nobody else give me information to find out about cued speech and what it is. I know what it is, I know how to do a really basic Google to find the most popular international associations involved with it! The query is "Does anyone know of research studies or academic literature which relate to the use of cued speech in late deafened adults, or has anyone personal experience of using cued speech as an adult other than for the purposes of communicating with children?"
Click to expand...

Then I imagine your best bet would be to Google a variety of search terms including research studies or academic literature which relate to the use of cued speech in late deafened adults.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

RoseRodent,
I can say that I'd looked into it briefly when I was considering taking a linguistics class - the idea being that I'd have an ASL 'terp who also cued. I talked to the University D/Hoh&DS dept, as well as about a dozen interpreters and they all said the same thing - that in 20+ years they'd never had a request for a Cuer (most late deafened or non signers request CART etc). They did say they'd train someone in Cuing if I was serious about it, so they weren't "anti Cuing", it just something that had never been requested (we're all primarily ASL first, then CASE/PSE here, with a tiny bit of SEEII)

When I asked more about it, I was told that it's primarily because it's a speechreading learning tool, used in oral only environments where sign language isn't permitted. (we're fortunate to have a large, great ASL Hoh/Deaf community & a city/province that makes sure ASL is supported and available).

Cuing is sometimes used as an additional tool for Hoh/d/Deaf in the classroom (who are learning English & if applicable,speech). But the reality is that it's rarely if ever used outside of a classroom setting because Signing is much more efficient and expressive (it also is easier on the hands, I had a few terps says they learned a bit, but stopped because keeping your hand raised and moving your fingers in the manner needed to cue is uncomfortable and even painful for some. Personally, I have poor circulation and my hand kept going numb while trying to learn, so I stopped.)

I don't think you're going to find any research or documentation on LD, adult cuers because that group is so very small that even finding research subjects would be prohibitive.

That's not saying you can't learn to cue, and try to make your family, friends and co-workers follow suit.

The issue for many hearing people being asked to learn additional languages or modes of communication is "how useful is this going to be, and who can teach me". The reality is that if they take the time to learn to cue, their doing it just for you (which is great!), however if you all take the time to learn Sign, you're now able to communicate with thousands of people in your area and with a little work millions of people world wide (many Hoh/Deaf people who travel etc learn multiple sign languages).

On a resume, job interview, etc Signing is much more well known, respected, and understood and considered more "useful" than Cuing, not because Cuing is "bad", but because Signing involves a significantly larger group of people (possible employees,clients etc) than cuing, which makes Sign Languages generally speaking 'more useful' to learn (in 34years, I've only seen 2 people cuing to each other, whereas I've seen literally thousands of Signers).

If you want to learn to cue - and ask others to do the same, do it. If it works for you, great.

Honestly though I'd learn the Signed ABCs as well, and at least some basic signs because I truly believe that will be more useful for you, your friends and family.

Do what YOU need to do.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top