First Cued Speech Lesson!

Today we had the privilege of Jane Dolan coming to our home to begin teaching us Cued Speech, which is the method of communication we have chosen for our family and Morgan. You can read more about Cued Speech in my older post below. Jane's sister is Deaf, and Jane's family was the first family to ever use Cued Speech. She was taught by Dr. Orin Cornett of Gallaudet University, who developed Cued Speech. Gallaudet University is the world leader in liberal education and career development for deaf and hard of hearing undergraduate students, located in Washington, DC. Jane taught all of us as well as a dear friend of ours who asked to learn with us so she and her family could communicate with Morgan. Dominic, Dio and Donatella did great. Dio picked it up quickly and had a determined interest to learn from the beginning. Dominic chose to draw all the hand shapes while we learned, and then he joined us in cueing and did a great job. I believe the drawing of the handshapes helped him process what to do. Donatella played while she absorbed all that was going on. Later today and tonite she was cueing words - she is a little sponge and will pick it up quickly. And big Dom did great too! Cueing is not difficult, but it must be practiced often. We will be incorporating cueing in to our homeschool every day. Morgan will learn how to read cues and become a strong lip reader. It makes my heart glow to watch Dominic, Dio and Donatella learning and eager to bring Morgan home.