Words needed for sharing a story: implications for vocabulary selection in augmentative and alternative communication.
BACKGROUND
This study examined the narrative vocabulary of typically developing children for the purpose of guiding vocabulary selection for children with complex communication needs.


METHODS
Eight children in their first year of schooling (aged 5 years 0 months to 5 years 8 months) and 10 children in their second year of schooling (aged 6 years 0 months to 7 years 2 months) generated story retell, personal, and script narratives. These were analysed using the Child Language Analysis (MacWhinney, 2008 ) program.


RESULTS
Several words occurred with high frequency across all tasks. Other words were more specific to particular tasks and topics. In the story-retelling task, the majority of the unique words used were from the original story. However, of the total words available in the original story, only a small proportion was used.


CONCLUSIONS
Some of the high frequency words overlapped with those included in existing wordlists. However, other words were unique to this study. The wordlists generated will provide a useful resource that can be used alongside existing wordlists to guide decision making around vocabulary selection for children with complex communication needs.
Crestani
Catherine-Ann M
CA
University of Sydney, Australia.
Clendon
Sally A
SA
Hemsley
Bronwyn
B
D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D012424:Rural Population; D012574:Schools; D014825:Vocabulary