Cued Speech is an approach to teaching deaf and hard of hearing students that uses hand shapes and positions around the lips that denote speech sounds that look alike to lip readers. A hand shape differentiates between the letters p and b, for instance, which look the same to a person reading lips. Cued speech is meant to raise a deaf person’s awareness of spoken language and improve literacy skills.
Illinois State University students in the deaf and hard of hearing program will learn more about the communication approach called Cued Speech thanks to a $100,000 five-year grant from the Ronald and Mary Ann Lachman Foundation. (left to right photo: Dean Deborah Curtis, Coordinator of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Program Maribeth Lartz, Trustee Ben Lachman, Project Coordinator Laurie Sexton, and Special Education Chair James Thompson)
The Department of Special Education will use the grant to bring Cued Speech teachers, users and transliterators to campus and to provide financial support for students who would like to pursue additional training in the Cued Speech communication method.
Professor Maribeth Lartz said “Illinois State University’s Deaf/Hard of Hearing program is committed to sharing information and developing skills related to all communication methods used in educational settings with students who are deaf/hard of hearing.” She said there is a shortage of teachers and Cued Speech transliterators, which the partnership between the Lachman Foundation and Illinois State will address.
Illinois State is the only public college or university in Illinois that has a teacher certification program in deaf education. Ronald and Mary Ann Lachman’s son Ben is deaf. When he was a child, they wanted Ben to learn to read and write well and determined that Cued Speech was the best methodology. Ben attended pre-school at a Montessori school that taught every subject while using Cued Speech. He is a graduate of the Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo and works as a real estate developer in the Chicago area.
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