Supporting home language access using Cued Speech
Stephanie J Gardiner-Walsh, Karla Giese · The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education · 2023
Cued Speech is a system that manually codes the phonemic patterns of spoken languages for visual accessibility. Since its inception, this system has transitioned from a support for speech reading to the current use of home language and literacy development. While controversial in some sectors within the field of Deaf education and the Deaf Community, cueing provides families with a method to visually supplement home languages through two approaches: partnering with a spoken language or a bilingual-bimodal approach. Cued Speech was developed by Dr. Orin Cornett at Gallaudet College (University) to address first-year deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students’ English literacy skills. Dr. Cornett wondered how DHH students were accessing sound-based English to acquire literacy (i.e., reading and writing). He reasoned if there was a visual system for the spoken phonemic code of English, then the acquisition of print literacy would be more accessible. Thus, Cued Speech was born.