Cued speech

[MatureMomG]

I am very excited about attending a Cued Speech workshop later this month with my husband and 15 yo son to learn cued speech for our dd who has DS, age 2 1/2. I know this has been mentioned before on this board, but I don't recall any of you actually USING it.
Has anyone actually learned and used it?

[Jessie]

We are using it with Jason (12) who is very delayed in his expressive skills. It works. He is a visual learner and this is a good way for him to learn first how to communicate his needs by basically using a sign - or for us to use a sign to get him to communicate. The idea is to use signs/gestures while saying the words and then to gradually back off from using the gestures as he learns how/when to say the words he needs to.

[hannahph]

I have not used this myself but there is a woman who I know(Leah from the Downsyn boards) who teaches this.Everything I have heard has been very positive.

[andrewsmom]

Ok... please don't think I'm against cued speech......I'm not. Whatever works for someone....use it.
However, I looked into cued speech for Andrew and found it would be easier to do ASL (your standard sign language simplified) with him instead. The reason is....most schools do only this type of signing. So, ofcourse I want my son's teacher's to be able to communicate with him from the get go. I honestly don't want to wait for his teacher's to have to update their way of communicating or to be told at the last minute "sorry, we don't have money in our budget to teach his teacher's to do cued speech" KWIM? I just wanted to try to head off the headaches now rather than later. I have total confidence Andrew will be able to talk someday.
Now don't get me wrong, like I said, whatever works for someone. And who knows....if Andrew still has speech problems in the future, maybe we will give it a try. Do whatever you feel is right. You know your child best. Good luck!!!!
-Trisha

[hannahsmomuk]

hannahph said:

I have not used this myself but there is a woman who I know(Leah from the Downsyn boards) who teaches this.Everything I have heard has been very positive.

this is Leah's site which is still being updated I believe but it will give you a little bit of information

www.downcues.com

[Kristen]

The only problem I see is that no one else knows it whereas school staff know at least some ASL. That and it was mentioned SO MUCH on another board that it turned me off.

[CC]

YUP we use it and honestly I was impressed when Christopher's ST showed me how well it was working with Chris We do Total Communication Program with Chris so its part of his speech program not all of it. For me I say anything that helps is a plus

Chris too is a very visual learner.

CC ~

[MatureMomG]

I have said before I have a VERY good school district. Some of my dd's therapists are going to attend this workshop. They have also offered to pay for my husband, myself and teenager to attend ($60). This is something that they can use with ALL the kids they work with, if they know the system.

They (the therapists) do use signing with my dd. I think (expect) cued speech will be better as it is a visual representation of spoken English. Whereas ASL is another "language". I like ASL, but I can also see its limitations in aiding in spoken and written speech.

BTW, apparently there is a growing need for Cued Speech transliterators (I think that is the term). Apparently they can make some pretty good money working for the schools ($30-50/hour). Don't know how accurate that is, or what is involved in training, but it seems to be an up and coming thing.

I have seen Leah's site and it is very good. She is the one organizing the workshop.

[laurasnowbird]

We haven't used it, but I have heard very good things about it. I think it is definitely worth trying! I think, like any of the teaching methods out there, it will work well for some kids and not so well for others. Hope it is the answer you're looking for!

[CC]

Thought I would share this web addy in case any one is interested

www.cuedspeech.org/sub/cued/cs_special_children.asp

CC ~