(photo credit: http://inclusive-communication.co.nz)

Question: Do I need Core Vocabulary?

Answer: Yes, if you’ve ever said...

“How do I know what vocabulary to teach?”

“We never seem to have the right words available.”

“How can I possibly include all the words he’ll/she’ll need?”

“What words should I program into the device/put onto the board?

“What are the most important messages to include on the communication board?”

“He really only makes requests.”

(source: UVM.edu)

What is Core Vocabulary?

A Summary

Core vocabulary is a small set of simple words, in any language, that are used frequently and across contexts (Cross, Baker, Klotz & Badman, 1997). Core vocabulary contains all parts of speech - nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections and serves as a great medium for teaching language.

Core words are familiar and most of them are short - six letters or less. Only a few core words have more than six letters (for example, "sometimes" has nine letters).

From toddlers to seniors, core's simple words make up 80 percent or more of everyday communication and are the heart of language development. Action words like "want," "put," "get," nouns like "thing," "stuff," and "people," pronouns like "I, me, my, mine," and "he, she, it, them," form easy sentences with demonstratives like "this" and "that." Early adverbs like "here" and "there" enable all children to express themselves. "Put it here," "Get me this," and "I want that" are what little kids say when they are building sentences.

How Everyone Uses Core Vocabulary

Core words dominate everyday speech for toddlers (Banajee, 2003), preschoolers (Marvin, Beukelman & Bilyeu, 1994), adults (Balandin & Iacono, 1999), and seniors (Stuart & Beukelman, 1997). Stuart found that 174 words made up 72 percent of what seniors said across all environments and topics, and 250 words made up 78 percent of what they said, even including shopping trips and telephone conversations.

When parents and families search endlessly for what their augmented communicator family wants and needs in his or her communication device, all they have to do is provide about 250 high-frequency words from known lists and the augmented communicators can tell you for him/herself!

(source: Minspeak.com)