Guide

The first words to teach on an AAC device

When you first open an AAC app, the number of words can feel overwhelming. Where on earth do you start? The reassuring answer is that you start small, and you start with the words that do the most work. This is a warm, practical guide to choosing those first words, and to why they matter more than you might expect.

Which words should come first?

Not the nouns you might expect. The most useful first words are core words: small, flexible words like want, more, go, stop, help, look, mine, no, you, and it.

It is tempting to fill an AAC board with pictures of favourite things, biscuits, a particular toy, a family pet, because those are easy to picture and fun to point to. Those words have their place, but they are what people call fringe words. They are specific, and each one only works in one situation. Core words are the opposite. They are the ordinary connective words we use constantly, and a small handful of them can be combined and reused across almost any moment of the day. Start here, with a modest set of core words, and you give a child the beginnings of real, flexible language rather than a list of labels.

Why are core words so powerful?

Because a few of them stretch a very long way. Core words make up roughly 80 percent of everyday speech, which means that a person who has reliable access to a relatively small core vocabulary can express a huge proportion of what any of us say in a day. Think about how often you say want, more, go, stop, and no. None of those words names a thing, yet you could hardly get through an hour without them.

Core words are also endlessly recombinable. The single word more can mean more juice, more tickles, more of that song, keep going, or do it again, depending on the moment. Stop can end a game, refuse a food, or ask for a break. Because these words are not tied to one situation, a child can use them to say something new, not just to request a known object. That is the difference between a communication tool and a menu, and it is why therapists so often steer families toward core words first.

What about words the child actually cares about?

Those matter enormously, and the two ideas fit together beautifully. Core words give the structure, but motivation gives the reason to use them. A child will reach for a word far sooner when it unlocks something they genuinely want. So look at what lights your child up, a trampoline, bubbles, a favourite programme, a swing, and build your early core words around those moments. The word go becomes thrilling at the top of a slide. More becomes urgent when the bubbles run out. Stop becomes powerful when it actually pauses a game they find too much.

You can absolutely include a few motivating nouns too, the name of a beloved toy or snack, because early wins build confidence and trust in the tool. The trick is balance. Let the child's interests decide which situations you practise in, and let core words be the language you practise with. That way every fun moment quietly doubles as a language lesson, without ever feeling like one.

How do children learn these words?

By seeing them used, over and over, with no pressure to perform. The single most helpful thing you can do is model, which simply means using the AAC yourself as you talk. As you say a word out loud, press it on the board too. Push go as you say let us go. Push more as you hand over another piece. You are showing your child what the tool can do, exactly the way babies hear thousands of spoken words long before they say their first one.

Modelling works best when it is relaxed and frequent rather than tested. You are not quizzing your child or waiting for them to copy you. You are making the AAC a normal, everyday part of how your family talks, so the words become familiar and safe. Keep it light, follow the fun, and celebrate any attempt to communicate in any way. Progress is measured in weeks and months, and it grows fastest in a warm, patient home where a few good core words are used with love, every single day.