Motivated by the low literacy rates of deaf and hard of hearing students, Dr. Cornett developed Cued Speech to convey the blocks of language visually. He understood there was a relationship between spoken language acquisition and literacy in regards to grammar and vocabulary.

Over the past 45 years, parents shared stories after stories of how their children were able to make great gains in language and literacy development. Dr. Cornett believed that children who were exposed to Cued Speech were capable of acquiring language at a rate faster than their hearing pears.

Today, deaf cuers themselves are sharing their own stories of inclusion and access to spoken language. They are sharing their own identity as cuers who acquired language and literacy skills with the help of Cued Speech.