LITERACY INSTRUCTION

The Challenge: Phonics Without Access

In classrooms across the country, reading instruction is built on phonics. Students are taught to “sound out” words, break them apart into phonemes, recognize rhymes, and build spelling knowledge from sound patterns. For hearing children, this works. For deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students, it does not.

Phonics assumes every child can hear the difference between bat, mat, and pat. But many DHH students—despite hearing aids or cochlear implants—cannot reliably access those distinctions. Without consistent access to sound, phonemic awareness becomes a closed door.

This challenge extends to interpreters as well. How do you interpret “sound it out” to a student who cannot hear the sounds? How do you make rhyming or blending activities meaningful when the building blocks are inaccessible? Too often, interpreters are left trying to translate concepts that simply don’t translate. The result: students work harder but still miss the foundation their peers are building.

Where Cued Speech Fits In

Cued Speech changes this. Developed in 1966 by Dr. Cornett at Gallaudet University, it uses eight handshapes for consonants and four placements around the mouth for vowels. When paired with natural mouth movements, these cues make every phoneme in spoken English visible.

For students, this means they can:

• See the difference between bat, mat, and pat.

• Participate fully in rhyming, blending, and word family activities.

• Build the same phonemic awareness their peers develop through hearing.

For interpreters, Cued Speech provides a practical tool. Instead of struggling to explain “sound it out,” they can cue the actual phonemes. This ensures students have direct, visual access to the content of phonics instruction.

The Research Behind Cued Speech

Decades of research confirm that children need phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and vocabulary to become successful readers. Deaf and hard of hearing students often excel in vocabulary—through ASL, English, or both—but lack direct access to phonemes.

Studies from the Illinois School for the Deaf showed that students using Cued Speech made the strongest reading gains compared to peers using Visual Phonics or ASL alone. These students consistently met their growth targets in literacy assessments. The reason is simple: Cued Speech provides full access to phonemes, the critical piece of the reading puzzle.

Embedding Cued Speech into Phonics Curricula

Cued Speech doesn’t replace phonics—it unlocks it. Any phonics-based curriculum can integrate Cued Speech because it follows the same instructional sequence. When teachers introduce rhyming, blending, or spelling patterns, Cued Speech ensures deaf and hard of hearing students can see every sound being taught.

It can be used in:

• Early literacy programs to support rhyming, syllable segmentation, and blending.

• Spelling instruction to show complete sound patterns without relying on memorization.

• Speech therapy to make invisible sounds visible and correct substitutions.

• Interpreted classrooms, giving interpreters a concrete tool to make phonics accessible.

You may think that Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, as well as Educational Interpreters receive training on how to make phonics visual within their college training.  In fact, this is typically a huge gap in teacher prep programs around the United States.

Because Teachers of the Deaf and Educational Interpreters need this training to unlock phonics instruction for their students, The Online Itinerant is hosting a 3 part training on how to use Cued Speech to support literacy instruction and development for deaf and hard of hearing students.  By the end of the 3 part training, participants will be ready to help students break the phonics code.

Final Thoughts

The truth is, phonics-based instruction isn’t going away—it’s the backbone of how schools teach reading. But without access to phonemes, deaf and hard of hearing students are left outside the system, no matter how skilled their teachers or interpreters are.

Cued Speech changes that story. It doesn’t replace ASL. It doesn’t erase spoken language. It opens a door that phonics has kept closed—ensuring that every child, regardless of hearing access, has the opportunity to learn to read.

If you would like more information on how to access this training from The Online Itinerant, go to www.TheOnlineItinerant.com.