What People Say About Our Work
Mum of a deaf 6 year old and TA discuss Cued Speech
Deaf inclusion worker talks about BSL and English through Cued Speech
Teaching deaf children both BSL and English
Two Dutch friends, one hearing and one deaf talking about learning Cued Speech.
Pascal and Patrica talk about Cued Speech and the comparison with the French version 'LPC'.
A father talks about his use of Cued Speech with his deaf daughter.
A Mum talks about her use of Cued Speech with deaf son.
Below is a selection of comments we have received about Cued Speech and our work. We actively seek feedback so that we can continue to improve the services our charity provides. We obtain this feedback through:
- questionnaires at the end of training courses
- questionnaires after presentations
- using occasional surveys of people that we have taught to cue
- encouraging people to keep in touch and let us know how they are getting on with Cued Speech.
Our training courses:
“This should be an essential part of training for any teacher of the Deaf….this is the best course I have been on in a long time!” Teacher of the Deaf
“Well taught, new skill, good discussions, fun, informative.”
“A very good team from the Cued Speech Association provided an excellent week’s course and support.”
“I feel now I will be able to help my sons with their literacy and/or other homework. Thanks for a great course.” Parent
“Really enjoyed the mix of tuition ….finding out more about the whole of Cued Speech in its wider context…they have provided a really well balanced and well paced course. Fantastic!”
“This has been a fascinating course.…….It’s good to have a training course with such a concrete result.” Work colleague of Cued Speech user
“Did not believe I could cue any word until the end of course proved I could. Amazing! Loved it!”
“I enjoy a challenge and developing my skills as I work with people who have a hearing impairment….A very good course which I will be highly recommending to others.”
“It gave lots of golden nuggets to inspire and to build on.” Parent
“Teaching was excellent and staff’s enthusiasm was awesome.”
“We would like to say a big THANK YOU for the experience of the Cued Speech Summer School. We had a wonderful time learning to cue. My best moment was when R. learned to cue A.’s name, for the first time since she learned to speak, she pronounced A.’s name correctly with the aid of Cued Speech.” Parent of a deaf child.
“Friendly and competent tutor, welcoming atmosphere.”
“Helpful for children with verbal dyspraxia or phonological disorders.”
“I went from not being able to cue or understand, to knowing every phoneme.”
“I felt empowered again.”
“I feel I will now be able to help my sons with their literacy.” Parent of a deaf child.
“Fantastic! Very useful!”
“This is the best course I have been on in a long time! I liked the input of additional tutors into our class over the week, and Paul-Michael was brilliant, very deaf aware too. Thanks for a great week!”
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Our E-learning website (www.learntocue.co.uk):
“What an AMAZING e-learning site you have put together! I'm so excited and SO proud of you! You are such specialists in keeping the message simple and understandable, yet including all necessary info in it! It's fun, personal and comes across as very user-friendly. A very good job, congratulations!”
“I have been logging on to the learn to cue website and it is FANTASTIC!!”
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Our presentations:
“Extremely interesting, results are phenomenal. Pointed out vast advantages which introduce all children to language” Teacher
“it was fascinating to learn how speech is developed in born deaf children through Cued Speech and how important that is in their development of language. It gave us another perspective into language and highlighted how much of lipreading is intelligent guesswork.” Lip-reading teacher
“The style of presentation was so wonderfully animated, fun, anecdotal while clearly being so academically informed - wow!!” Speech and Language Therapist
“Excellent presentation of a well researched system with clear links between theory and practice. I would not hesitate to recommend this system to others” Speech and Language Therapy Student
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Using Cued Speech
“I really just wanted to take this opportunity to thank those that have helped us over the past year. The day I chanced upon the Cued Speech Association proved to be an immense turning point for me in terms of emotionally coping with the deafness of my darling little boy. I had felt so disempowered as a parent when I first found out he was deaf and although I was happy to embrace the world of signing I was painfully aware of my limitations and the years of training it would take me to be able to express myself fully to my little boy. Deciding to cue with Z. required a leap of faith into the unknown but the prospect of what it could potentially offer him was incredibly exciting and gave me such a sense of optimism for the future. I now have total faith that the right decision was made and it has been wonderful to see Z. over the last few weeks really beginning to show his understanding of some cued words and I am sure that this will continue to grow. So thank you so much for making it possible for me to learn, further develop my skills (I’m afraid I’m still rather slow!) and involve my family too in this wonderful means of communication.” Mother of a profoundly deaf baby
“The ease with which he mastered phonics, combined with his knowledge of English language, has made W’s rapid transition to literacy a joy to be involved in. He is now in Year 2, and his reading age, measured alongside his hearing peers in a recent standardised test conducted by his class teachers, when he was 6 years old, came out as equivalent to 9.5 years. His ability to read and write is already opening up so many doors for him in his wider learning and development”. .... “Overall, perhaps the most important transition for W. has been from a baby who seemed to us severely disadvantaged and disabled to, today, a confident, happy and well-adjusted boy who has every advantage that could be expected of a kid of his age, with everything to look forward to.’ Mother of W., who was born totally deaf and later received a cochlear implant which was only partially successful, and who has the advantage of Cued Speech both at home and at school.
“My child has learned to read very quickly and easily. Together with the Cochlear Implant, the combination for her speech and literacy skills remains unbeatable!” Parent of a deaf child.
“Well it is early days ….but I can see a big difference already in their grasp of spoken English.” Teacher of the Deaf.
“Cued Speech saved our sanity in the early stages: it produced quickly the developments in understanding which professionals were aiming at over a longer period.” Mother of profoundly deaf daughter.
“Cued Speech [gives] me unmitigated and unequivocal access to English. Spoken English that has not been able to reach my ears has now found a new channel into my head. It is through Cued Speech that I am able to see spoken language clearly, without any doubt in ambiguous passages that could be misread through lipreading alone.” Profoundly deaf student.
“When our first son was diagnosed as profoundly deaf we chose to use Cued Speech with him. Because it is not a language, just a way of clarifying spoken language, it is quick to learn. I learnt in 8 two-hour lessons and, although initially slow, was almost immediately cueing everything I said. I didn’t ever have to worry that he couldn’t hear me, or that what I said was unlipreadable or that I didn’t have the right vocabulary. I could say anything I wanted. What I said was always clear to him.
Cued Speech was totally successful for him and later for his younger brother, who was also born profoundly deaf. With hearing aids our sons could hear the vowel sounds of speech but few of the consonants. Using the cues to ‘fill the gaps’ and to make sense of the incomplete sounds they heard, they both began to communicate using their voices. Their diction was initially poor but their language levels were excellent and they both began to read as pre-schoolers.
Both boys attended mainstream primary school with classroom assistants who learnt Cued Speech to ensure that they could understand the lessons. Academically they thrived; tests showed literacy, vocabulary and grammar levels to be substantially above hearing children of the same age; socially they were confident and happy. With the help of a Speech and Language Therapist (who also learnt to cue) and their thorough understanding of spoken language, their diction improved. With a solid foundation in English in place they began to learn two more languages – French and British Sign Language. Cued Speech has allowed our sons to entirely fulfill their potential.” Parent of two profoundly deaf sons.
“With Cueing, you quickly learn to express anything, but at an extremely slow rate. With a sign language, you quickly learn to express a very limited set of ideas, at a reasonable speed. With cues, you add to the rate slowly, over a period of months. With signs, you add, slowly, over a period of years, to the number of ideas you can express.’
Parents who use Cued Speech consistently will steadily gain speed.
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