Learning Language

“Imagine, if you will, a family that has just had a new baby. These new parents never talk to the baby and somehow manage to keep the baby from most conversation until he is about two years old. At two, they decide it is the correct time for baby to begin to talk. Each day, for fifteen minutes, they have talking lessons. They don’t speak to the baby the rest of the time. These well meaning parents spend a lot of money and research and find the perfect talking curriculum. Unfortunately, they quickly become frustrated with their child’s inability to speak.”

“Now If these parents came to you for advice I’m sure you would be horrified that they hadn’t been speaking to their baby all along. It is likely you would tell them to dump the complex ‘talking curriculum’ and just start conversing with their child. You would reassure them that teaching him to talk is really not that complicated and if they would just start to make conversation a regular part of his environment, he would absorb (learn), most of the necessary skills.” http://kbagdanov.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/819/

The quoted paragraphs above were not written about raising a hearing impaired child.  The title of the article is “3 Keys to Great Writing” and it was found on a blog called Substantive Education.  The focus of the blog is a home school education.  The writer goes on to draw parallels between how children learn to speak and how they learn to write.  Now don’t get all upset with the author for putting an emphasis on speaking, she does have hearing children.  However, when I read these opening paragraphs I was struck with the similarities to what happens in many hearing households who suddenly find themselves with a hearing impaired child. While the Substantive Education blog article focuses on learning to speak, the physical act of speaking the words is merely a way for the hearing author to assess her hearing child’s ability to learn language. So understand my point, look back at what was said, not in the context of learning to speak, but in the context of learning language. 

For years many families didn’t even know that their child had a hearing problem during these early years because there were no screening tests.  Unbeknownst to the parents, they did manage to “keep the baby from most conversation”.  But, even in today’s environment of early screening, parents find it difficult to provide a first language model in the home. How does one just start conversing with their hearing impaired child?  To speak their native language while cueing is often not even provided to the family as an option by the professionals they encounter.  But cueing in your household allows the family to continue to converse in the language of the home, while including the child in the conversation.  It allows the family to “just start conversing with their child”.  It makes “conversation a regular part of his environment, (and) he (will) absorb most of the necessary skills.” 

If you listen to the Scher/Consacro family in the video below you will see how they have cued to their children from the day they were born. You can witness for yourself that immersing your child in the language of your home through Cued Speech does indeed make “conversation a regular part of his environment”.  Ultimately, it becomes apparent that a hearing impaired child in a cueing home can indeed “absorb most of the necessary (language) skills” in much the same way a hearing child would.

Who Uses Cued Speech? from National Cued Speech Association on Vimeo.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Can He Cue?

The answer is YES if it’s at the Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, Maryland.  Adventure Theatre will have a Cued Speech performance of If You Give A Mouse a Cookie, on Thursday, April 9th at 1:30pm.  Adventure Theatre is willing to do more Cued performances if they see that there is a demand.  Currently, they provide one ASL Interpreted performance per show.  I believe this will be their first Cued Speech performance.  For more information and ticket prices visit their website.  Bring your own cookies!

Want to learn to cue?

Several Cue Camps are coming!  Here’s a listing of the ones I know about:

CueCamp Friendship
Urbana, MD

6/18/2009 to 6/21/2009

Cue Camp Friendship–June 18-21, 2009
Make plans now to attend Cue Camp Friendship in its NEW location at the Bishop Claggett Conference Center overlooking the beautiful Sugarloaf Mountain! Conveniently located just minutes off I-270, 5 miles south of Frederick, MD. Easily accessible from three major airports.
Contact MDCSAprez@gmail.com for more information. http://mdcsa.org/

Cue Camp New England
Falmouth, Maine

7/9/2009 – 8/2/2009

Learn to Cue or Improve your Cueing Skills. Learn how Cued Speech can be used to improve the English language skills and literacy of children who are deaf. Meet others who use Cued Speech. Make new friends. http://www.cuedspeechmaine.org/CuedSpeechCamp.html 

Cue Camp Virginia
Front Royal, VA

8/27/2009 to 8/30/2009

CCVA Will be held at the 4-H Center in Front Royal, VA,
FROM AUGUST 27-30 2009!
After a long and very successful run at the 4-H Center in Jamestown, VA, the NVCSA Interim Board of Directors would like to announce that Cue Camp Virginia (CCVA) will be moving this year to the Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center in Front Royal, VA.

This mountaintop facility is approximately a 60-minute drive west from Fairfax, VA, and is located only a few miles from Interstate 66. On-site lodging, dining facilities, conference facilities with six break-out rooms, and recreational facilities (including pool and bon-fire pit) are superb.

In keeping with NVCSA’s Mission of Education, Advocacy and Support, the Board believes the new Front Royal location offers a more convenient destination, which will entice those Fairfax area elementary and pre-school families who have not been able to come to CCVA in the past a good reason to do so.

To receive updates as they become available sign up for the eNewsletter at http://www.nvcsa.org

Do you Cue in your dreams?

I realized recently, that from time to time, I find myself Cueing in my dreams.  Sometimes it is when I’m communicating with someone to whom I would normally Cue, but in other dreams I find myself Cueing to people who have no knowledge of Cued Speech.  It seems that when I find myself Cueing to them, it is because I’m trying very hard to make myself understood.  It seems my brain has embraced that fact that what I want to convey comes across with more comprehension when I Cue; and therefore, in my dreams I find myself Cueing when I want to be precisely understood.  As in my real life, I rarely, if ever, have anyone Cue to me in my dreams. Do you Cue in your dreams?  If so, to whom do you Cue, or who Cues to you?

More Cued Speech Informational Videos

There are actually a total of five video segments which the National Cued Speech Association has made available.  This one is the longest.  It’s called Who Uses Cued Speech?  The video shows both native cuers and hearing parents describe how and why they chose Cued Speech as the primary communication modality for their child/children.  I’m actually one of the people interviewed.  Why is it that you never like to see yourself in videos or hear your own voice?  I never like pictures of myself either. 

Who Uses Cued Speech? from National Cued Speech Association on Vimeo.

The link to the video should show up above, but if it doesn’t and you cannot play the embedded video, you can go here: http://vimeo.com/2439515 

Barb

Say What?

The difference between having a CLT in class and not having one.

Cued Children’s Stories

The National Cued Speech Association has recently published, on YouTube, a series of new videos on Cued Speech.  They did a really good job!  The videos include captions for those who cannot hear the audio or read the cues.  This one is entitled Cued Children’s Stories and it includes the cued versions of several familiar nursery rhymes like “Little Miss Muffet”, “The Three Bears”, and more.

If you’re unable to see the video above you can follow this link. So, I hope you enjoy this demonstration and don’t forget to show it to the kids!

Barb

When I was learning to Cue

Many hearing parents who learn to Cue for their hearing impaired or deaf child have learned to do so while their child is still quite young.  Some as early as infancy, others during toddlerhood.  Since my son was not diagnosed with a hearing impairment until 2nd grade, I was working with different developmental milestones than those parents who learned of their child’s hearing loss at a very early age.  I took my first Cue Class in the Spring of the year when my son was in 2nd grade.  I really did not get a good grasp of the concept though until I took the intermediate level class the next fall.  By then, my son was in 3rd grade, and his school placement had been moved to Canterbury Woods, where he had CLTs and Cueing teachers.  His use of Cued Speech blossomed very quickly.  It was like a door had been opened for him.  He was suddenly speaking more, using complete sentences, and correcting my Cueing.  I was having to learn to Cue with a very different vocabulary than those who learn to Cue to their very young children.  I wasn’t Cueing “Hop on Pop”.  I had to Cue words like “Dumbledore” and “Hermione”.  When we would focus on homework there were words like “Hammurabi” and “Mesopotamia”.  These are not exactly the words a beginning Cuer wants to encounter! 

As I said in an earlier post, I needed to learn to rethink my own approach to language.  I have a tendency to speak very fast.  People are always surprised to learn I’m from the south, since my rate of speech is so fast.  It was very frustrating for me to try and Cue at a pace which would keep up with my rate of speech.  I think things finally clicked for me when I began to relate my breakdown of the words I would Cue, to the breakdown of words in music.  I’d played the piano since I was a child, and I’d sung in school and church choirs along the way, so reading music and reading the choral accompaniment to music was familiar.  At some point while I was trying to come into my own rhythm of Cueing, I realized that if I thought of the words as if they were the refrain from a song, it became easier for me to Cue. I’m not sure if this approach simply slowed me down enough so that my burgeoning Cueing skill could keep up, or if there is some other type of connection between the fluency of Cueing and the fluidity of producing music.  The two seemed like the perfect complement to one another though and it certainly helped me to progress in my skill.

Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky (in cued English with subtitles)

I wanted to share this YouTube video. It shows the Louis Carroll poem Jabberwocky being Cued. It also has subtitles for those who cannot cue read. Jabberwocky is a literary classic, but was meant by Carroll as a parody designed to show how not to write a poem. According to Alice in Through the Looking-Glass, “Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas – only I don’t exactly know what they are!”.

If the video does not appear appear in the area above, you should be able to find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5hiRL2ujM4

What happened to Brian’s posts?

Over the last week, Brian published several new posts expressing the feelings and personal experiences derived from his use of the various methods of communication available to deaf and hard of hearing individuals.  These posts generated a number of comments.  Unfortunately, over the weekend Brian choose to leave WeCue! and in the process felt it best to remove all of his posts.  Unfortunately, all of his posts were removed before anyone knew of his decision.  I apologize to anyone who was following or commenting on his posts. I feel his posts were interesting and insightful even though not everyone agreed with his opinions.  His posts made people think and they encouraged an ongoing dialog.  I’m sorry to see Brian leave WeCue!  Brian, we wish you well.