Cue Camp 2016
Friday 19th - Sunday 21st August
|
|
After the success of previous year’s Cue Weekends, we have booked the Slapton Ley Field Centre (SLFC) once more, for fun, residential access to Cued Speech. The weekend will consist of structured, tutor-led classes at beginner, improver and advanced levels for the visiting parents and professionals, whilst the children enjoy their own activities in the natural surroundings on the coast at Slapton. Older kids will partake in informal and incidental learning in the form of nature-based activities carried out by staff at the SLFC, whilst the younger kids will be cared for by professionals in the crèche - with Cued Speech Transliterators and, if needed, BSL interpreters providing access to language.
We have secured a range of facilities to keep you and your families happy and entertained for the weekend on the site and the option of family camping is available, as well as catered on-site accommodation.
Families have always enjoyed our event, and feedback from 2014 has highlighted the sense of community, and shared learning when cueing at the Camp. This is a weekend getaway that is both educational and fun for all the family, allowing you to achieve, whilst in a relaxed and friendly environment.
Interest in this event is already high. Please contact us in the office to request booking information, or visit our website for more information.
|
|
Cued Speech,THRASS and Phonics
for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children
|
|
|
By Charlotte Lynch - a Teacher of the Deaf working for Babcock Education’s Hearing Impairment Team in Devon. She has used Cued Speech alongside THRASS as well as BSL, to give deaf children in mainstream schools equal access to phonics and other aspects of the English language. Being deaf herself from a young age, she recognises first hand the value of Cued Speech in making all sounds visible which are indistinguishable through lipreading and listening alone.
|
|
What is Cued Speech?
Cued Speech is a visual representation of spoken English and gives deaf and hearing impaired children full access to all speech sounds. It is made up of 8 different handshapes and 4 mouth positions to give full visual access to the 44 sounds of English. The basic system can be learnt in a day. Cued Speech tutors in Devon are able to train staff working with deaf and hearing impaired children, and Teachers of the Deaf can advise on how to apply these skills in the classroom setting. The system gives visual access to the whole of the English language, but can also be used specifically to support literacy and phonics for hearing children with speech processing difficulties or other difficulties such as verbal dyspraxia.
What is THRASS?
THRASS (Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills) is a visual approach to teaching phonics to all children which has been less popular in recent years due to government policy not to support reading approaches which use pictures and an increasing emphasis on listening. This poses huge problems for deaf children who are unable to access the full range of sounds without visual clues. Children with auditory discrimination issues will also be at a disadvantage. Devised for all children, THRASS is also a valuable specialist intervention tool for these children who cannot fully access phonics through listening alone.
For example sounds ‘p’ and ‘b’ may sound very different to a hearing person but look identical on the lips to anyone relying on lipreading. Using the ‘THRASS chart’, children can be given a memory ‘hook’ to help them visualise that the sound ‘p’ can be represented by one letter ‘p’ as in panda or two letters as in hippo, and the sound ‘b’ can be represented by one letter as in bird or two letters as in rabbit. Used in conjunction with Cued Speech, this becomes immediately accessible for deaf children.
THRASS is also a visual tool which can help emerging writers to make spelling choices by embedding visual images in their memory. Sounds are grouped together in a visual way so that the child can be prompted with spelling choices for example, the ‘c’ sound like at the beginning of cat can be represented by the letter ‘c’ in cat, ‘q’ in queen, ck in duck, ‘k; in kitten and ‘ch in school. By presenting these images visually it is much clearer and serves as a memory aid.
THRASS has a full range of materials for hearing children, and also, working with the Cued Speech Association UK, has created additional materials to support deaf children’s’ literacy and understanding of phonics. Babcock Hearing Impairment Team work closely with the Cued Speech Association UK to deliver training to schools using a systematic way of teaching phonics for deaf children.
Cued Speech can be used to support the usual order of teaching phonics through programmes such as Letters and Sounds or Read, Write, Ink, but sometimes a more structured approach is needed, using the ‘gridding method’ shown below. This is similar to the ‘sound buttons’ method commonly used in schools but with a more visual approach.
Individual words can be ‘gridded’ on a chart as shown below.
Many children who are deaf or hearing impaired or those with limited speech and language will need an alternative whole word approach to support the teaching and learning of phonics as an intervention strategy.
If you know of any children who are not making adequate progress in phonics skills, you may like to find out more through our training courses.
|
|
A New Office
For the CSAUK
|
|
|
The Cued Speech Association UK (CSAUK) has recently moved their offices to Blackawton, Devon. Only a few miles down the road of our previous location, it has the advantage of being more flexible accommodation, and slightly closer to civilisation than our previous cliff-top barn.
|
|
|
Our details are now as follows:
CSAUK, The Forces, Forces Cross, Blackawton, Devonn TQ9 7DJ
Tel: (01803) 712853
Please contact us there regarding training or information whenever you require our help. Our offices are open Monday-Thursday, 9-5, and a member of staff will always be happy to answer any questions you may have.
|
|
|
|
