An Alternate Route for Preparing Deaf Children for BiBi Programs: The Home Language as LI and Cued Speech for Conveying Traditionally-Spoken Languages

Abstract

Focuses on nonsigning hearing parents of deaf children who share the goals of bilingual-bicultural programs for their child, opt for their home language to be their deaf child's 1st language, and have questions about communication options (e.g., oral methods, manually coded English [MCE] systems, or Cued Speech) for conveying that language. The authors present research findings related to the effectiveness of MCE systems and Cued Speech for conveying English and developing deaf children's reading abilities. The authors compare the cueing of English and the signing of MCE systems in terms of theoretical and practical advantages. The authors emphasize that language access, not the nature of language per se, is the critical issue needing to be addressed in order to significantly improve reading achievement scores of deaf students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)