Teaching a new word

Also called Introducing vocabulary, Word learning on a device, Targeting a word

How a word moves from a card on the device into the person's own use: modelling, hundreds of times, in real situations, without ever making them press it.

What it is

Teaching a new word means getting a word from the board into the person's mouth, or rather their hand: from a card they have seen to a card they press on purpose to mean the thing. It sounds like it should be a lesson. It is much more like how a speaking child learns a word: by hearing it used, by other people, hundreds of times, in the moments it applies, until one day they use it too.

The mistake almost everyone makes is to teach by testing. "Press help. Press help. Where's help?" That produces a person who can find "help" when asked to and never presses it when they need it.

Who it can help

Anyone learning any word on any board, at any age, and every partner who wants to help. It applies to a two-year-old's first "more" and to an adult after a stroke relearning "tired". It is what parents, teaching assistants and care staff can do without a therapist, and it is the single most effective thing they can do.

It does not work fast. Speaking children hear a word for months before they say it, and a person who uses a board is no different. A target word that has not appeared after a week has not failed; it has been modelled forty times fewer than it needs.

How it works

The method has a name, aided language stimulation, and a rule: the partner uses the board to talk, pressing the target word as they say it, in real situations, and never asks the person to copy. This is modelling without expectation. The person watches the word being used to do something real, over and over, and the mapping between card, sound and meaning builds itself.

Pick one or two words at a time and choose them for power, not for teachability: "more", "help", "stop", "go", "finished", "different", "mine". Use them across the day, in every room, by every adult, on the person's own board so the location stays the same. See motor planning in AAC for why location matters.

Then create reasons to use the word: give a little so "more" is needed, make a jar hard to open so "help" is needed, see communication temptations. And when the person presses it, whatever they meant, respond as though they meant it.

Getting started

This week, choose one word. Write it on a sticky note on the fridge so every adult knows. Press it on the board every time you say it, and say it often: fifty times a day is not too many. Do not ask the person to press it.

Set up two situations a day where the word would be useful and wait, with the board in reach, for ten seconds longer than feels comfortable; see wait time.

When it comes, celebrate by doing the thing, not by praising the press. "More" gets more. That is the reward that teaches.

Where to get help

A speech and language therapist will choose target words for the person's stage and coach the adults around them; ask for a referral. Communication Matters runs training on modelling for families and staff. Speech and Language UK has free guidance on how children learn words.