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About Us – A Brief History

The National Cued Speech Association (NCSA), a nonprofit 501 (c) (3), is made up of an all-volunteer board, with a single part-time paid Executive Director. The NCSA is supported financially by a grass-roots effort led by passionate mothers, fathers, deaf educators and the like, trying to grow Cued Speech, year after year, through family-funded learning weekends nationwide.

Cued Speech is a simple and finite system that allows the deaf or hard-of-hearing person to have a clear and unambiguous visual representation (using the mouth and hand) of all the sounds of a spoken language. Because it is a phonemic model, Cued Speech has been adapted for 56 different languages. In fact, Cued Speech allows a deaf child to learn a foreign language at the same rate and manner as a hearing child. The reason this is true is because Cued Speech allows a deaf person to "see" what a hearing person "hears". Deaf children who grow up using Cued Speech have been shown through controlled research to read on the same level as hearing children (Wandel, 1989).

Cueing in the home provides a deaf child with the greatest understanding of language. This access to language is critical in the educational development necessary for a child to read, write, communicate and reach his or her full potential. Access to language also contributes greatly to self-esteem, the development of other age-appropriate social skills, academic success, and varied employment opportunities.

In order to address the need of parents with newly-diagnosed deaf children to learn the Cued Speech system conveniently and quickly, the NCSA created regional “Cue Camps”. At Cue Camp, families and professionals can learn the entire system of Cued English in one weekend (although it takes approximately six months to become proficient, if practiced daily) in a camp-like setting. Cue Camp participants gain confidence and support from other families who are on the same journey. They see first-hand the success of families and professionals who have been using Cued Speech for many years. There are Cue Camps in six states nationwide (Virginia, Maryland, Maine, New York, Louisiana, and North Carolina) and they are generally held between late spring and early fall.

Cue Camps place a special emphasis on families. Research shows that the family provides the most influential language model in a child’s early life. A family that cues to a deaf child provides complete access to the language spoken by the family, regardless of the degree of the child’s hearing loss. In these trying economic times, many families will not be able to afford the cost of Cue Camp. Thus, the NCSA appeals to you – interested citizens and organizations – who support literacy and understand our urgent need to raise funds for Cue Camp Scholarships.

Is this a worthwhile cause? Absolutely! Do we need your help? Yes! Please Donate Here or contact us at Readathon@cuedspeech.org.

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