Core words are the small set of high-frequency words that make up most of what people say every day: words like more, go, stop, help, want, I, you and that. ASHA's guidance puts them at about 80% of the words most people use each day. Because they work in almost any situation, many AAC boards are built around them.
Core words and fringe words
Words on a communication board fall into two groups:
| Core words | Fringe words | |
|---|---|---|
| What they are | A small set used all the time | A large set used now and then |
| Mostly | Pronouns, verbs, describing words, question words | Nouns: names, places, foods, toys |
| Examples | more, go, stop, help, want, big, in, what | banana, grandma, park, dinosaur |
| Where they work | Almost everywhere | One topic or one moment |
A board of only nouns lets a child name things, which is useful, but naming is a small part of talking. More works at lunch, in the bath, on the swing and with a book. Research cited by ASHA found that combining core and fringe words increases how often AAC gets used (Beukelman et al., 1991; van Tilborg and Deckers, 2016).
Good first core words
Start with words a child can use many times a day and that get a quick result:
- more: food, tickles, pushes on the swing, another song
- stop and go: games, cars, bubbles, music
- help: lids, shoes, stuck toys
- all done: the end of a meal, a game or a bath
- want, yes and no: choices through the day
Two or three words used often are worth more than twenty that sit on the board unused.
How to use core words at home
- Pick a routine. Bath time, snack or getting dressed: something that happens every day, the same way.
- Choose two words for it. For bath time: in and more (more water, more bubbles).
- Model them. Touch the word on the board as you say it, every time, without asking the child to copy you. ASHA's guidance reports that this kind of modeling helps children understand and use symbols (Binger and Light, 2007).
- Pause and wait. Leave a few seconds after you model a word. Give the child room to take a turn, in any way.
- Add a word. When the child uses a word, answer and add one: the child taps more, and you say and tap "more bubbles".
Core words in Talking Cards
Talking Cards opens as a learning board: tap a card, hear the word and see it big. A grown-up can turn on the talking board in the parent panel, with a sentence bar for joining cards and Yes, No and Help buttons. The guide Turning on the talking board shows how. The app supports a child's own talking and is used alongside it, never instead of it. It is not therapy; a speech-language pathologist can help choose the words that matter most for your child.
Sources
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (Practice Portal): core vocabulary (Quick et al., 2019; Witkowski and Baker, 2012), core and fringe together (Beukelman et al., 1991; van Tilborg and Deckers, 2016), modeling (Binger and Light, 2007).