Kids, Cueing, and Summer Fun
By Theresa Koenig
Duluth, MN
What makes teaching a kids’ cue class so seriously rewarding?
For me, it’s the steady stream of questions and those wonderful
break though moments when you can see and hear a student making
sense of ‘this cueing stuff’. “Why do people cue?”;
“Oh!, so we say T different ways sometimes, but we cue ‘em
all the same.” ; “How could someone think of cueing?”;
“Can I have another cookie?”; “How do deaf people
know what it means?”; “Yeah! Cue kick ball, cue kick
ball!”. These are just a sampling of the many rewards I received
from instructing this summer’s “Kids Can Cue Too”
class in Duluth, Minnesota. Yes, it was rewarding folks, and it
was a lot of fun!
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Seven kids from the Duluth area, ages 7 to
12, attended class this summer. These children, whose family,
friends or classmates use cued English, spent their mornings,
once a week for five weeks, learning and practicing how to
cue. Having a small group of kids with mixed cueing skills
was a wonderful experience for everyone. A few kids already
knew how to cue quite well. They served as excellent mentors
for the other children, and their own skills improved in the
process. Some kids were completely new to cueing, and they
learned basic cueing skills. All the children enjoyed the
daily work, the daily prizes, the cue games, and the art projects
related to cueing. One student whose mother uses cued English
for communication said, “Cueing is going great, I am
using it more and more with my Mom.”
Parent initiative helped get this class off the ground. This
past Spring, I taught a beginning class, and a few parents
from that class wanted their kids to learn to cue. With parent
support, a generous grant from the Duluth Area Lions Club,
and a space donated by a local church, we were successful
in providing Cued Speech instruction to Duluth area children
this summer. In addition to the class, some families incorporated
a “family cue night” into their routine to reinforce
and improve their new cueing skills. Leadership and support
from parents goes a long way in teaching their children, not
only how to cue, but how to work it into their daily lives. |
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Cue Camp
Part of our class. First row: Kjell and Leif
Hinkel, Ashlie DeYoung,
Kimberly Young. Back Row: Alicia Liebrand,
Kristin Young. |
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T-Shirt Fun
A classic summer pastime with a cueing twist!
The kids made their own cue T-shirts for fun.
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Kids,
Cueing, and Summer Fun 
