In Defense of Cued Speech. How is it 'Disgusting'?

I hear a lot of negative comments about Cued Speech or Cued English mainly from signing deaf people. I especially hear about how awful Cued Speech is from the big capital 'D' Deaf people. I read somewhere on DeafRead about how they found an article about some school using Cued Speech, in addition to ASL, 'disgusting'. First, thank you for pointing out the article. But, please, explain to me. How is it disgusting? 

I understand why many people are against Cued Speech. It seems to threaten sign language. Perhaps a lot of them fear that people would prefer to use cueing over signing. Perhaps they see it as something that could interfere with sign language and communication; causing problems with the ability to communicate in sign language.

A lot of people think it is a language. It is not. It is far from a language. Cued Speech can never take the place of ASL and other signed languages.

Or perhaps some deaf people were taught Cued Speech and they absolutely detest it. Fine. If you don't like it, don't use it.

But, to those who have never tried Cued Speech, don't knock it until you've tried it. Take a class and learn how to cue, then come back here and gripe about it some more. It would be more credible. At least I can say, "Oh, well this person has tried it and used it, she knows what she is talking about." 

Keep in mind, Cued Speech, in my opinion, is more appropriate for younger people who want to learn how to read and understand English, and for those who have super dedicated parents who are willing to learn and use Cued Speech consistently starting at infancy. Consistently. Not every other day. Not when you feel like it is necessary. But everyday, 24/7. (*A commenter asked a good question, how can parents be expected to use cued speech 24/7 while using sign language? Sorry, the '24/7' was an exaggeration, I did not mean for it that they need to use it 24/7--but close to it--if and big IF the parents decide that Cued Speech and oral methods will be the primary way they wish to educate and communicate with their child. Otherwise, I don't know how parents would use both ASL and Cued Speech together in the very beginning stages of a child's life. One would have to be used more than the other, I suppose. Parents would have to make that decision.)

I took a course in Cued Speech. It was very interesting and I learned how useful Cued Speech can be. It can be useful for those who use primarily sign language.

When I get the time, I will write more about my experiences with Cued Speech, both positive and negative.

I am tired of hearing mainly negative comments about it from people who never tried it or have taken the time to learn more about it. 

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Praise More, Criticize Less

Everyone has this need to feel important. I try to remember this when I work with my students and their teachers and parents.

Try to remember a time when you were fully appreciated by someone else. How did it make you feel? Probably happy and good. When you feel happy and good about yourself you want to continue to do the same things that make other people appreciate you and make you feel important.

I remember a professor from college who complimented me in a way that changed my perspective about my hearing loss.

He told me, "I like how you really make an effort to look at people when they talk to you. You don't turn your back and look away. You really look at them. I think it makes them feel important and nice. I wish more people would do this."

Of course the main reason I look at people when they talk to me is because I am working very hard to listen. I never thought about doing it to make people feel important because it looks as if I am really interested in what they have to say. I never looked at it as a skill. I looked at it more as just something I have to do to get by in everyday conversations with people. But, because of his comment, I started thinking about my hearing loss as a positive thing. It makes me look good in that I am making others feel good about themselves!

This is very important to keep in mind when working with people who are deaf and hard of hearing and/or have special needs.

Often, I notice that my students are not given enough credit and usually have things done for them that they can learn to do themselves. And when they do things for themselves not many people take the time to praise them or acknowledge their achievements. They get acknowledge more for making good grades and staying out of trouble.

For example, a teenage student with down syndrome and a moderate-severe hearing loss was experiencing difficulties and frustration because her hearing aid battery died. I asked her where she keeps extra hearing aid batteries. She said that she did not have any on her. Then she said that it was fine and that she will wait until she gets home to have her mom change the battery for her. I have spoken with her mother about keeping an extra set of batteries at school, but she keeps forgetting.

I remembered that I taught her recently how to change a hearing aid battery by having her help me change my hearing aid battery when it died. I gave her a new hearing aid battery (one of mine) and told her to try to change the battery herself. She was able to do it on her own, without too much effort. She smiled when I told her how impressed I was that she was paying attention the last time I showed her how to change the battery. I told her that she did a great job and that this is something she can do herself. She smiled again beaming with pride.

Now that I know that she is capable of changing the battery herself, I will introduce to her how to clean her hearing aid and help take care of it.

I met with her mother recently and told her about how her daughter is capable of doing these things herself. The mother has been doing all these things for her daughter and never thought that she was capable of doing it herself. She seemed excited about her daughter being more independent taking care of her hearing aid. She made a good point about why she did not think to help her daughter to learn to do these things by herself.

She said, "When you are at home, you fall in these patterns. At home you are comfortable and you have a routine. Even though I know it is wrong to baby her and to do everything for her, it is a hard pattern to break."

Her mother was the most happy about the fact that her daughter feels good about herself when she can do these things by herself.

What did I learn from all of this? Praise more, criticize less. If you want more out of people, don't forget the power of praise! People often forget to do this. Everyone has the need to feel appreciated and important. It may not seem like a big deal, but it is. The compliment given to me by the professor changed my thinking for the better.

It is not a requirement. It is a gift.

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What to Do With Your Hearing Aids

A while ago I wrote a post to my students about what not to do with your hearing aids. This time I would like to write a note to them about what they should do with their hearing aids.

Dear Students,

• Do learn to clean the wax out of your hearing aids' ear molds and tubes. Stop letting others do it for you. You are more than capable of doing it yourself. 

• Do learn to change your tube. It is easy to do and will save you money and a trip to the audiologist or hearing aid dispenser. 

• Do decorate your hearing aids with stickers or rhinestones, if you wish. 

• Do learn to change the battery when it goes dead. 

• Do get in the habit of putting your hearing aids in their boxes when you are not wearing them. Otherwise they might get lost, damaged, or something may decide to chew on the ear mold. 

• Do show your hearing aids to others or let others know you wear them. Wear your hair up, show them off. Tell others about your hearing aids.

•  Do tell me or your teachers when they are irritating you or not working.

• Do take them out or turn them off when you want to relax and read a book or do something quietly. Sometimes you need a break from listening. 

• Do realize how expensive and fragile they are. They are not toys. I don't want to see one of you pretend that your hearing aid is a spaceship shooting laser beams at my forehead again. 

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Quack, This is How You Say "Quack" in Sign Language

I am enjoying my time in Virginia, near the DC area, visiting my sister and her family. I have two adorable little nieces, Charlotte and Emily. Charlotte is four and Emily is seven. I have the hardest time understanding their little voices. It makes me sad that I can't understand what they are saying most of the times. They try to be patient as they repeat themselves over and over again.

So, I have been teaching them some signs, hoping they will pick some useful ones up to help us communicate.

The other day, Charlotte asked me how to sign "Quack" (as in a duck goes "Quack"). She was clutching her yellow stuffed duck which she named "Quack." I said that I was not sure but showed her the sign for duck and said that it should be a suitable sign for quack.

She did the sign and with a serious look, she picked up her duck and said, "OK, Quack, this is how you say quack in sign language." She showed him the sign a few times as he stared at her blankly.

Kids are so funny sometimes!

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In Defense of English: My Response to 'For Hearing People Only'

I was re-reading this book, For Hearing People Only 2nd Edition (1993), written by Matthew S. Moore & Linda Levitan. I highly recommend it. It has useful information and questions that should be asked and answered. It is an interesting read.

However, it includes several negative generalizations about hearing people. It is very pro ASL and Deaf Culture. It is really a book written for the Deaf Cultured audience. Hearing people reading this may feel attacked or looked down upon.

Some parts appear to be insulting and misguided such as this passage:

English is dry, sequential. In ASL the entire body is used expressively to convey information. Spoken English uses a string of phonemes (sounds), words, and sentences. Period. ASL can expand the expression of each sign according to the signer's mood, feelings, or attitude. English cannot do that; it's much more limited. The expressive possibilities of ASL are virtually limitless. English is uni-dimensional; ASL multi-dimensional. (page 52, Chapter 5).

Let's look at Merriam-Webster's definition of 'dry' at least in the way the author intended it to mean:

a : not showing or communicating warmth, enthusiasm, or tender feeling : severe b : wearisome, uninteresting c : lacking embellishment : plain

I wholeheartedly disagree with the statement. English is not dry. It has expression. English is not only a string of phonemes and words.

I am not saying that English is the greatest language in the world and I don't think it is better or worse than any other languages. But, it certainly isn't dry! Written English include exclamation points, periods, question marks, italic, bold, CAPITALIZATION, "quotation marks" and such. With spoken English, we ask questions, we raise our voices and lower our voices, we shout, we whisper, we sing, and we cry. We have different accents. We use facial expressions and gestures to help make our point. Go sit in on a professional storyteller telling a story in English to young children and come back and tell me that the English language is dry.

Here are some examples of the many ways we can say "Hello, my name is Bob and I am feeling great today." :

1. "Hello! My name is Bob and I am feeling GREAT today! Wahoo!"

2. "HELLO! MY NAME IS BOB AND I AM FEELING GREAT TODAY!"

3. "Hello. My name is Bob and I am feeling great today. Can't you tell?" (rolling eyes and frowning).

4. "Hello. My name is- - -My name is Bob and, and, and I am feeling great today! (sobs uncontrollably) (Happy tears).

5. "Hello? My name is Bob and I feel great today?"

6. "Hell-o-o-o! My n-a-a-a-me is Bob and I feel g-r-r-r-eat today!!!"

7. "Hello, my name is Bawb and I am feeling gwate today."

8. "Hello, my name is Bob and I feel f-ing great today."

How can one say English is a dry language? When I read this passage, I was not only bothered by the statement that English is plain and boring. I was also bothered by the insinuation that ASL is a much better language. It screams arrogance.

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The Cat and The Monastery Story

Ritual Cat

When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, a cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. One day the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. 

Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice.

Story from: Zen Buddhist Stories

One of the most important things I can teach the students I work with is to ask questions. Question everything. Why are we doing this? Why am I learning this? Where did this idea come from?

I do not want them to simply take things for what they are and go through life just accepting everything without any thought. I don't want them to continue many customary practices without knowing why they are doing them, especially if it involves tying up a cat.

We often do many things without questioning why we do these things. For example, if I ask my students why they are learning about the Nile River or why they are learning about the precipitation rate in Midwest grass plain areas, they will often not know why or what is the point of learning these things. If they don't understand the purpose of what they are learning, it becomes meaningless to them. If we can't give our children or students good reasons or explanations of why they need to learn certain things, then what is the point?

When we question things, we learn. We can't keep going around saying, "Oh, well that's the way it is." I notice that when I ask most people why it is "the way it is", they often don't know why.

Keep asking questions even if they seem stupid or if they are difficult and uncomfortable.

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Related Post:

• What is the Point of This?

Temporary Monkey Hearing Aid Box

When I was in Miami during the summer, I was constantly going to the beach. Usually, I didn't bring or wear my hearing aid if I knew I was going to the beach. Wind, sand, sun, and the ocean spray can't be good for the little guy. I don't want to have to worry about taking care of it while I splash around in the water and soak up some sun. But, one day, I wore my hearing aid on the way to a beach. I did not have my hearing aid box in the car. I looked around trying to find a suitable place to put it, and my boyfriend suggested that I put it in this:

LOL. OK, why not?

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The Benefits of Teaching My Boyfriend Sign Language

Little by little, I have been teaching my boyfriend sign language (finger spelling and ASL).

He has been doing a wonderful job so far!

Sign language is useful for when we need to talk privately, when we can't talk or use our voices, or when we just want to communicate with each other from across a room or distance. The other day, we were sitting outside the apartment under my neighbor's window which happened to be open. We were able to have a full discussion, silently, even though it took a while as my boyfriend struggled to finger-spell and remember certain signs.

I will sometimes sign when I am so mad that I don't want to speak. He thinks it is cute when I do this, which infuriates me even more.

He often uses it when I have trouble hearing him. He doesn't have to yell or repeat himself again and again trying not to get mad.

It is especially nice when we want to be romantic or sweet without using any words. I like it when he makes an 'E' hand shape and put it over his heart and smile. 

I would say that sign language adds to the relationship and has brought us even closer. 

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What the Heck Chewed On My Hearing Aid Ear Mold?

What chewed on my ear mold?!

A cockroach? A tiny mouse?
Was it you Dr. Evil Mike?

Thank goodness the damage is minimal. I don't know if you can see it in the pictures.


What do you guys think chewed on my ear mold?

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*Update: It was most likely a gecko, from when I was in Honduras. Eek!

Poem: Hearing Aid, Hearing Aid

Hearing aid, Hearing aid


Hearing aid, hearing aid
What do you hear?
Be it far or be it near.
Tell me, please
What sounds there might be,
in this big world of places to see.


Hearing aid, hearing aid
Listen to me.
Listen ever so carefully.
Did you hear that sound in the
middle of the night?
Was it a cat or
a monster giving fright?


Hearing aid, hearing aid
Where can you be?
I’ve searched around endlessly,
You were just sitting on
the edge of the pool.
Did you sink to the bottom?
Or float to the top?
Maybe a child stole you.


Or maybe you grew legs,
and just ran away
Tired of doing a tireless job
That gets no pay.


Written by Rachel Horowitz

A Reader's Poem About Her Hearing Aid

Small pieces of plastic,
so tiny, yet bringing forth such passion.

Causing joy, causing pain

sometimes one emotion 

smothering the other.

Sometimes each vying for power.

I hear sounds never imagined before -

birds chirping, doorbells ringing,

even lisps in the spoken words

of those Others I envisioned as perfect,

the auditory equivalent of beautiful celebrities.

(My own reality is deemed flawed, less-than,

certainly not beautiful,

unsure of where voices are coming from,

not hearing ends of words

and sometimes, guessing what those perfect

Others said, in an attempt to blend into their world.)

I hear unpleasant noise as well,

and the music on the radio sounds tinny, 

not at all the way it does in my head.

All the noise and hustle and bustle of life

is tiresome and I long to arrive home,

take off my shoes and my hearing aids

and luxuriate in a muted world, my world,

where I hear things my way. 

Flawed and imperfect, perhaps, but still, my reality.

My reality is not of total silence, as hearing people assume,

but of sound turned down, 

of voices spoken softly, 

of words not articulated clearly, 

of people responding to unheard environmental cues.  

My reality also means making a conscious decision

when to enter their reality.

If you are important enough to me,

I will perhaps - if my ears don't ache, if my brain can handle the stimuli -

choose to put those small, emotion-laden pieces of plastic

in my ears and join your world, your reality.

I can never be a total participant in your world -

too many missed cues, too many lips I cannot read -

but you forget that and get angry or impatient with me when I look

blankly at you or smile and nod.

This does not make me want to spend more time in your world,

you know.

It does not seem like a kind world, a forgiving world.

I prefer my muted world, the auditory equivalent of

an Impressionist painting, blurred around the edges

but still the flowers and people bursting with colors all their own.

Jan 

*Poem written by Jan Parlin Pacelli. Thank you for sharing!

 Anyone else?

A Poem: Knight in Lint-Encrusted Shining Armor

My attempt at writing a poem about my hearing aid:

Knight in Lint-Encrusted Shining Armor

Suddenly everything became a muffled mess
I tried to listen to my friend as she talked about a dress.
Did she say plaid?  
Or did something make her mad?
Eh? What? Huh?
Time to change my hearing aid battery. Ugh.

I dug into my giant hand bag.
Gum, old receipts, coins, a name tag,
mints, coupons, pictures, candy, keys,
cell phone, wallet, band-aids, and tiny plastic trees.

As I wondered why I have tiny plastic trees,
I felt in the bottom, my batteries!
Encrusted in lint, my knight in shining armor,
here to help me clarify the grumbles and murmurs.

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Poet Writes About My Hearing Aid

I went to a book festival the other day, mainly to support my friend who just recently wrote and published a book.

There was a booth in front of an art gallery where people were writing free poems on demand about anything you request. I thought it would be interesting to request a poem about my hearing aid.

The poet smiled and said, "Hearing aid. All right." He immediately started writing. I thought he would at least look at my hearing aid or ask some questions about it.

This is what he wrote:

"hearing aid"

as if, what to manage but a

whisper from a shell, as if we were

swallows perched along the line

and would, of a simple word from you,

bow our heads, salute you, take

the skies. 

JS 9/04

What? I was very disappointed.
Do you guys like it? Am I missing something here?

If you think you can do better, email me your poems about my hearing aid, with or without stickers. If they are good, I will post them here on my blog with your permission. 

My email: ehwhathuh@yahoo.com

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See How Spanish is Spoken Online

I mentioned in an earlier post that there is a free online Spanish dictionary program, SpanishDict.com, where you can look up words and translate English words into Spanish words. Usually on most online dictionaries, you have two options: read the words in written form and listen to them being pronounced. Spanishdict.com are experimenting with using videos of native Spanish speakers saying the words. This way you can see and/or hear how the word is pronounced. The creators of this learned that for many people, it helps to see native speakers pronouncing the new words they are learning. I thought this was an excellent idea especially for those who are deaf and hard of hearing. Personally, seeing someone say the word helps me tremendously.

My boyfriend, Jose, got involved with this project. They filmed him pronouncing several different Spanish words. These videos are up on their site now. Check it out! 

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/trabajar

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/poner#

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/verdad#

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/bajo#

Although, I think the site needs a little more tweaking in relation to the videos. I notice that some videos were captioned and some were not. Also, the placement of the captions could use some work. Some were distracting and covering up too much of the speaker. Of course I think he looks great. :)

What do you think? Are these videos helpful?

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Speech to Text Glasses for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Being Developed

(image from dvice.com)

Babel Fisk are developing these glasses that will turn spoken words into text. The text will appear on the lens. You would literally be reading before your eyes what is being said to you.

It is a cool concept. However, it will not be for everyone. I don't know many people, including myself, that would find words appearing before their eyes as they converse with someone pleasant. It could be rather annoying. It will certainly be troubling for those who have problems with reading.

Some bloggers writing about this device said that with these glasses, there would be no more need for sign language. Yeah, right. These bloggers obviously have no clue what they are talking about. Sign language is so much more effective. I would rather have sign language to communicate with others than a pair of glasses. These gadgets can never replace a language.

I would rather have a small device in my hands that would translate everything that is being said into text. I believe that this is already in the works as well. With all the other cool gadgets already on the market and being developed as I type this, the glasses seem almost unnecessary at the moment.

I wonder how much they will cost? Who would actually buy them?

What do you think?

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