Cueing vs. Cue Reading
Written by Barb Ballard on October 7th, 2008 | 4 CommentsA recent comment to one my earlier posts made me stop and consider the differences in learning to Cue vs. learning to Cue Read and consequently allowed me to contemplate on one of my own personal dilemmas. Tasha left a comment stating that she was relieved to learn that a hearing individual did not always understand phonics or have phonemic awareness. She had always assumed that this was something that came naturally to the those of us who hear. Since she also left a link back to her own blog, I followed that link to learn a little more about her. I learned from her blog that she uses a cochlear implant, and is hoping to find a more satisfying method to get all the information presented in her classes than the methods she’s used so far. As an option she was considering a class on Cued Speech. I wrote a comment back to her which I want to reiterate here and perhaps expand on it a bit. What differences are there in learning to Cue vs. learning to Cue Read? Tasha said that she wanted to learn to cue, so I encouraged her not to go take the classes alone. I suggested that she find a friend or relative who would take the class with her. My point being that she would need someone to cue TO her in order to learn how to Cue Read well enough for it to become a useful tool for her. Perhaps my perspective on this is skewed since I am a hearing individual, but I just can’t see how one can become good at Cue Reading all alone. Is it possible? Is there a way to do this? Can a person learn to Cue Read on their own, and if so how?
As a hearing individual, I found that I could practice my cueing while I was alone. I could cue in the car to the news or commercials coming over the radio. I could cue while reading a book. I could cue while walking or exercising and listening to my iPod. I didn’t have to cue to another person to improve my skill. I just had to practice. But, I have to admit, I’m a horrible Cue Reader. I can’t always tell what someone cues back to me unless I hear them speak. Why is that? Because no one cues to me! My son knows I can understand him when he responds verbally, so he doesn’t find it necessary to cue to me. Therefore, he gets lazy and won’t bother. I’m not often around enough native cuers to get good practice at Cue Reading.
In order to teach my hearing impaired son to cue, we cued TO him. He began to absorb the visual cues the same way a hearing person absorbs the spoken language around them. How do I now better learn to Cue Read?
I’ve given up on requesting that my son cue to me. Some battles with teenagers are just not worth it, and this is one battle that’s just not worth taking on. Hence, I must look to other avenues. When I cue to a cueing adult and they do not cue back to me, is it impolite to ask them to cue back? Would I be implying that they are not speaking well? I don’t want to imply that. I don’t want to make them feel self conscious over their own verbal abilities. I just want practice Cue Reading. What is the appropriate etiquette in this situation?
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- About Barb Ballard
- Barb is the parent of a child with a moderate to severe hearing loss. Her son was diagnosed as post-lingually deaf and it is believed that his hearing loss was the result of intravenous antibiotics. She learned to cue after he was diagnosed as hearing impaired. Together with her husband Don, they live in rural Clifton, Virginia. Their son attends Fairfax County Public Schools where Cued Speech is supported by the Deaf/HOH program.
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October 8th, 2008 at 1:41 am
So I am curious about what I am about to ask. I don’t know too much about cueing myself, I am a HOH eighteen year old girl. I use both english and sign language to communicate. I can bounce between Deaf world and Hearing world pretty smoothly except for when my hearing aid dies. I can lip read hearing people when I can’t understand them well enough etc. With this being said, how does someone who uses cue go out and interact in the community of there home town etc with a hearing person who doesn’t cue? Like friends, if they go out for dinner etc.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Danielle, I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer your questions, but I’ll try. I hope some of the deaf adult cuers will also respond to this so you can get their thoughts as well.
From what you’ve written it sounds like you’re fairly proficient already at lip reading. You say that you “bounce between the Deaf world and Hearing world”, so I assume this means you also sign. This makes it sound like in day to day life with friends and family you’re pretty comfortable and feel you have good access to the communication going on around you. If this is the case then there are probably only a couple of advantages Cued Speech might bring to you at this point: The first might be a little better ability to lip read. Cue Reading frequently can help you to become an even better lip reader. Better lip reading skill means you’ll understand better even when the speaker is not cueing. The other advantage might come if there are situations where you use a signing translator or a CART system to get information such as in a class room or other speaking event. If like Tasha, you’re still in school and frustrated by the methods you’ve used to get the information presented orally by your teachers, you might find that using a Cued Language Transliterator gives you the information in a more useful manner.
So, how does Cueing help someone communicate, when the people they are with do not cue? I can only look to my son for that answer, but being with hearing friends, who do not cue, does not intimidate him. His best friend is hearing and only cues a little. My son has become an amazing lip reader. The two of them communicate with no difficulty. I feel that learning language with the help of Cued Speech has given him a strong base in language skill and in lip reading skill. It’s also made him a part of the group of kids at school, so that he has the confidence to be in a group of hearing friends and not feel out of place.
As I said, I hope some of the adult deaf cuers will also respond with their experiences.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Hi Danielle,
I’m a native cuer — been cueing since I was almost four years old. What I can tell you is that if I’m with someone else who is cueing, it’s definitely the easiest form of communication for me. I’m also a pretty proficient lipreader too, though there have been times when I just “don’t get it.” And that can happen for any number of reasons — being tired, the person has a thick accent that I’m not familiar with (I can usually handle the hispanic/latino or indian accents, but others are less prevalent), or my brain is just simply spazzing out for whatever reason.
However, it is my strong belief that I would not be as proficient a lip reader without having grown up cueing, and for one simple reason: cues are located around the mouth area, and require the normal mouth movements and shapes to occur naturally. So, in a way, being exposed to cueing also exposed me to what the mouth shapes and movements should be, naturally. So while the two together is the “perfect combination” for me, I can lip read well, as I have the concrete knowledge of which mouth shapes and movements are associated with the consonants and vowels.
I recently was part of a research study that tested various people’s ability to gain information through cues. I had to lipread two people (one male, one female) on video and type out what they were saying. That was the lipreading baseline. Most hearing people get an average of about 30-40% correct, and I got around 60-70% correct. With cues, I had 95-100% accuracy. I think that says a lot.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Here are some of the things we’ve done to practice our cue reading -
Take the receptive quizzes at http://www.dailycues.com/activities.html
(bottom left)
I also suggest downloading the spoken and cued speech tours of the National Gallery. Watch the cueing tour first. Then listen to the spoken tour, then go back and watch the cued tour one more time. http://www.keenguides.org/tours.aspx