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Educational options for deaf children today are much different than in the past due largely to advances in hearing enhancement devices (including cochlear implants), visual phonics (VP), and ASL-English bilin-gual education options. However, statistics regarding reading achievement of deaf learners remain virtually unchanged from those 50 years ago. This presentation will discuss the relevance of Cued Speech (CS) and cued language today in light of these advances as well as other situational factors. CS and widely used man-ually-coded English (MCE) sign systems will be compared for their utility in conveying English. CS and VP will be compared for their utility in developing the alphabetic principle and reading comprehension in deaf students. The importance of early and complete sensory access to English for the development of read-ing and academic achievement will be emphasized. The applicability of CS in ASL-English bilingual pro-grams will be discussed. Contributions of CS to advancing knowledge in fields such as Speech and Hearing Sciences, Cognition, and Linguistics, and Reading will be detailed. Challenges to conducting research with cueing children will be discussed and a recently submitted grant application to the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs for a cross-discipline, multi-university longitudinal study of the development of English and reading of cueing and non-cueing children will be discussed.
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