The Illusion of Abundance: Rethinking Robust Vocabulary in AAC

Many assistive technology providers and AAC specialists emphasize the importance of having lots of choices for communicators on a device, often called "robust vocabulary." But here's the thing: more choices don't necessarily mean better communication. Offering thousands of options doesn't automatically create the most helpful or efficient system.

Consider something called Hick's Law, a psychological principle showing that decision-making gets slower as the number of choices increases. Yet we rarely hear about Hick's Law when creating communication systems for non-speaking individuals. Instead, discussions focus on robust vocabulary and giving users the opportunity to explore the system.

While learning to navigate a system matters, we should question whether browsing through multiple folders and massive word lists truly helps. Sometimes, this approach reflects a misunderstanding of how communication actually works.

When Delays Break Down Communication

Whenever we add delays to a communication system, we make that system less valuable. Picture this scenario: your child wants to request a single item, but that word is buried several folders deep. Without enough practice finding that folder quickly, the resulting delay creates a breakdown.

During this search, you probably try to help by guessing what your child wants. You ask questions, offer items, and hope that eventually you'll figure out the right one. This pattern often centers on requesting things, but requests are only one reason people communicate. Whether someone uses an AAC device, speech, or sign language, focusing only on asking for things raises an important question: what's left to talk about once they get what they wanted?

Think about your last conversation. Did you simply ask for something, receive it, and stop talking? If requesting were our only reason to communicate, conversations would be very short.

The Problem with Too Many Nouns

As a speech-language pathologist and AAC specialist, I've looked at countless communication systems for students and children. A pattern shows up consistently: too much emphasis on nouns (words for people, places, and things).

The problem with thousands of nouns isn't obvious at first. It looks like abundance. But this can actually limit communication in three ways. First, it makes choosing harder. Second, it slows down finding the right word. Third, it restricts what can be said. If you can only name and request items, what do you say after you get them?

This emphasis on sheer quantity creates an illusion. The vocabulary looks impressive, but it only supports a few ways of communicating, mainly requesting and commenting. While these matter, they don't represent everything people need to say. Also, this approach misses something fundamental about how language works.

How We Really Use Words

Every person, regardless of their language, uses the same words as others who speak that language. We don't make up new words for new ideas. We use familiar words and phrases; otherwise, we couldn't understand each other. Essentially, we're all copying one another, saying the same things in different arrangements. When we express something new, we're putting familiar words together in new ways.

The Lego Principle

Two different toy sets show this principle clearly: six Legos versus twenty toy cars.

With twenty cars, the possibilities are limited. You can crash them together, line them up, race them down a track, or move them around. The activities, while fun, remain fairly predictable.

But six Legos? The combinations number in the millions. Each brick connects in multiple ways, creating nearly endless possibilities. Lego celebrates this at their headquarters in Denmark, where I visited. They talk about how Legos enable almost limitless creativity through countless combinations. Even with just one hundred Legos, you're looking at nearly infinite possibilities.

Language works the same way. Words combine in nearly limitless ways, following rules for building phrases and sentences. We don't need 100,000 nouns to express millions of ideas.

Here's the math: with 100,000 nouns, we might say 100,000 different things. But with 100 core vocabulary words (pronouns like "I" and "you," verbs like "go" and "want," prepositions like "in" and "on," adjectives, and some key nouns) we can create millions of unique sentences. Just like those six Legos that combine in 915 million ways, core vocabulary words are designed to snap together. Each word connects with others to build complete thoughts. In contrast, huge noun collections are more like those twenty cars—you can line them up or group them, but you cannot build full sentences from nouns alone. Nouns don't connect the way core words do.

What "Robust" Should Really Mean

A truly robust vocabulary might actually be smaller, focusing on words that combine easily to let your child express nearly infinite ideas. When vocabulary supports putting words together, communicators can build complete sentences and share complex thoughts.

This matters because it challenges a common belief in the AAC field. Even with thousands of nouns available, the decision-making process slows way down. This delay during communication leads to breakdowns and makes word use feel inefficient and frustrating. Communication partners struggle to understand. This is exactly what we should avoid.

Instead, we want communicators to experience words as powerful tools. When they use words effectively, people understand quickly. You grasp what they want, what they don't want, and what they need you to do.

Before we define robust vocabularies as collections of hundreds of thousands of nouns (what specialists call "fringe vocabulary") we should rethink this definition. A robust vocabulary should include a smaller set of highly flexible words that enable users to express nearly infinite thoughts. That's where real communication power lives.