An early Spanish vocabulary for children who use AAC - developmental and linguistic considerations

Sep 29, 2026

For children with complex communication needs in the early stages of language development, access to appropriate vocabulary supports social interaction, participation, and the later development of grammar and related language skills. Although many resources exist for English speakers, there is an urgent need to extend evidence-based vocabulary tools to other languages. This study develops a developmentally relevant Spanish word list for early AAC users.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Study aim and context

Word list development method

Applications and implications

Augmentative and Alternative Communication ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: [https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iaac20](https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iaac20) An early Spanish vocabulary for children who use AAC: developmental and linguistic considerations Gloria Soto & Brittney Cooper To cite this article: Gloria Soto & Brittney Cooper (2021): An early Spanish vocabulary forchildren who use AAC: developmental and linguistic considerations, Augmentative and Alternative Communication To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2021.1881822](https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2021.1881822) Published online: 12 Feb 2021. | Submit your article to this journal | | --- | | View related articles | | View Crossmark data | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=iaac20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=iaac20) AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION [https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2021.1881822](https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2021.1881822) FORUM NOTE An early Spanish vocabulary for children who use AAC: developmental and linguistic considerations Gloria Sotoa and Brittney Cooperb aDepartment of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences and Department of Special Education, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA; bJoint Doctoral Program in Special Education, Department of Special Education, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA ABSTRACT For children with complex communication needs in the early stages of language development, access to appropriate vocabulary provides a means for social interaction and participation, and the foundation for the acquisition of grammar and other language related skills. While numerous resources are available to support decision making for speakers of English, there is a pressing need to rapidly expand such resources for other languages. Spanish is the official language in 20 countries, and in other countries (e.g., United States) Spanish-speaking communities represent a substantial proportion of the population. The aim of this study was to produce a developmentally-relevant word list for use by Spanish-speaking children in the early stages of language development. The list was developed from an analysis of overlap between published and validated lists of words produced by young Spanish speaking children with typical development. The list includes a wide range of word classes and semantic categories and is proposed as a tool to assist professionals, families and software developers in the process of selecting an initial lexicon for children who require AAC and are learning Spanish. Implications of our findings for vocabulary selection and future research directions are discussed. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 19 February 2020 Revised 20 January 2021 Accepted 20 January 2021 KEYWORDS Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC); initial lexicon; Spanish; vocabulary selection As the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) continues to expand in Spanish-speaking countries and other countries with large Spanish speaking communities (e.g., United States), questions arise about the nature and content of vocabulary selection for an initial AAC system in Spanish. The topic of vocabulary selection for an initial lexicon (i.e., the first words to be taught) for children with atypical language development has been the center of considerable debate for several decades (e.g., Fristoe & Lloyd, 1980; Holland, 1975; Lahey & Bloom, 1977; Judge et al., 2020; Laubscher & Light, 2020; Quick, Erickson, & Mccright, 2019) . For instance, Holland (1975) advocated for a selection of a relatively small (35 words) “core lexicon in which a significant proportion of the lexical items can function in more than one grammatical slot” (p. 519) . Lahey and Bloom (1977) proposed that an initial lexicon should be

FAQs

What problem does the study address?

Children with complex communication needs need appropriate vocabulary early to support interaction and language development, yet resources for languages beyond English are limited.

What is the goal of the research?

To produce a developmentally relevant early Spanish word list for children who use AAC.

How was the Spanish word list created?

It was developed from an analysis of overlap between published, validated word lists produced by young Spanish-speaking children with typical development.

Sep 29, 2026

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