Associations between receptive and expressive vocabulary and early literacy in young students with intellectual disabilities using AAC.
For AAC-using students with ID or autism, richer expressive vocabulary links to stronger letter-sound and blending skills, while receptive vocabulary does not.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ulriksen et al. (2026) looked at school-age kids who use AAC and have intellectual disability, autism, or Down syndrome.
They asked: does the size of a child’s vocabulary link to early reading skills like knowing letter sounds and blending sounds into words?
The team tested both receptive vocabulary (what the child understands) and expressive vocabulary (what the child can say or show with AAC).
What they found
Expressive vocabulary mattered. Kids who could name or select more words via AAC also scored higher on letter-sound and blending tasks.
Receptive vocabulary did not show the same link. Understanding more words did not predict better early literacy in this group.
The pattern was mixed: expression helped, reception did not.
How this fits with other research
Reichard et al. (2019) saw a different picture in general autism. They tracked receptive growth and found a steady gap compared with typical peers. Britt’s AAC sample shows no gap effect because severe receptive scores floor out the correlation.
Gonzalez-Barrero et al. (2018) followed late talkers for 14 years. Kids with both receptive and expressive delays plus family reading risk had lasting reading problems. Britt narrows the focus: among AAC users, only expressive size links to early reading, so family risk may act through expression.
Kong et al. (2026) studied preschool AAC users. They showed core-word lists miss kid-specific fringe words. Britt extends this upward in age: once those fringe words are in the expressive set, they appear to feed directly into phonics skill.
Why it matters
If you work with school-age AAC learners, spend session time building their expressive output, not just comprehension drills. Add personally meaningful fringe words to their device, then practice letter-sound games with those words. This small shift ties vocabulary gains to early reading without waiting for receptive scores to rise.
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Pick three new fringe words the child loves, add them to their device, and use those words in a quick letter-sound matching game.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: This study examined the associations between receptive and expressive vocabulary and early literacy skills (i.e., phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge) among 39 students aged 6-14 years with intellectual disabilities, autism, and/or Down syndrome who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Receptive and expressive vocabulary are identified as a key risk factor for developing reading skills in students with intellectual disabilities who use AAC. METHODS: Spearman's correlation analyses and generalized linear models were conducted throughout this non-experimental investigation to examine the association between receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness (sound blending and initial sound recognition), and letter-sound knowledge. RESULTS: Findings revealed a significant correlation between expressive vocabulary (i.e., words children can use in speech) and both letter-sound knowledge and sound blending, contrary to prior research. Additionally, students' receptive and expressive vocabulary showed no correlation with their early literacy skills. Binomial Generalized Linear Models (mixed-effects models) highlighted the importance of receptive vocabulary in early literacy development. Furthermore, looking at the differences within the sample, students with autism and intellectual disability requiring AAC had a higher negative probability of maximum scores in early literacy skills. CONCLUSIONS: These findings deepen understanding of how the correlations between receptive and expressive vocabulary relate to early literacy skills. This may contribute to more targeted interventions and provide implications for practitioners and their teaching within receptive and expressive vocabulary and early literacy components, which will benefit this population in further reading development.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2026 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2026.105239