About Minspeak

What is a Minspeak® System?

A Minspeak system uses multiple meaning symbols in short sequences following simple, easy to learn patterns.  With only a small set of symbols used in short sequences, a person can say hundreds, even thousands of words.

A Minspeak® system uses multi-meaning pictures called symbols.

Minspeak symbols are simple, easily recognized pictures. Symbols created for a Minspeak system are designed to be culturally relevant and communicate a wide range of common ideas and topics.

Pictures and symbols naturally evoke multiple ideas. For example, the icon of a bed can express not only the word bed, but also the idea of furniture, sleeping, being tired, saying goodnight, and looking for something underneath. The Minspeak approach systematically takes advantage of this natural inclination to associate multiple meanings with a single picture or icon.

Minspeak® symbols are combined into short sequences to code vocabulary.

Minspeak symbols are combined in short sequences – usually 2 or 3 symbols – in order to say different words. For example, you say furniture by sequencing BED with the NOUN key, sleep with the VERB key, and tired with the ADJECTIVE key.

Minspeak® vocabulary codes follow patterns.

Minspeak systems have defined patterns for organizing and saying vocabulary. For example, a verb is always 1 or 2 symbols, followed by the verb key. The person using a Minspeak system learns a small set – usually 40 to 80 – of multiple meaning symbols which remain in a fixed location on the Minspeak display – then learns the patterns for combining those symbols into short sequences.

Minspeak® codes and patterns create an organized vocabulary system.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices come with Minspeak vocabulary system already loaded into them. Each system has a set of Minspeak symbols and a pattern for combining the set of symbols. The person using a Minspeak system can simply select from the available vocabularies and start learning the symbols and patterns.

Minspeak® systems have been used since the 1980s.

The Prentke Romich Company has been using the Minspeak system in their AAC devices since the early 1980s. The Unity® family of vocabulary systems is the Minspeak system currently available in PRC devices.

Minspeak® systems are used around the world.

Minspeak vocabulary systems are used around the world, with each system developed for the language spoken in that country. Each language has a unique set of symbols and patterns. The Prentke Romich family of companies provides and supports these Minspeak vocabulary systems.

Who uses a Minspeak® System?

Minspeak systems are used by children and adults who cannot effectively communicate with speech. The person’s speech might be ineffective because of a physical disability or learning challenge.

Physical Disabilities

Minspeak systems are used by individuals with motor speech disorders, such as dysarthria and developmental apraxia of speech. Minspeak systems offer children and adults with motor speech disorders a language system that eases the physical demands of using a communication device. Physically challenged individuals can communicate exactly what they want to say – with limited motor movements.

Learning Challenges

Minspeak vocabulary systems are designed to match the complex communication needs of children and adults with a range of learning challenges. The small icon set and the consistent patterns used to code vocabulary reduce the learning demands for people with language and cognitive challenges.

a woman with a lightbulb above her headWhy use a Minspeak® System?

Minspeak systems are an efficient, easy to use language approach for everyday communication. It also supports cognitive and language development.

Efficient and Easy to Use

  • The person only has to learn a small set of Minspeak symbols, not hundreds and hundreds of pictures to communicate the most frequently used words in any language.
  • Symbols stay in a fixed location on a Minspeak display, with no need to search through pages and pages of pictures to find a word.
  • A consistent set of patterns helps a person predict the way to say a new word, reducing learning demands.

Supports Vocabulary and Language Development

  • A young child can practice saying the same words as his or her peers because Minspeak systems include a robust core vocabulary – those 350 most frequently used words in any language. The child using a Minspeak system can easily say “mine,” “go sleep,” “want more.”
  • Vocabulary is organized in semantic networks, a strategy used in language and classroom intervention to support vocabulary growth. Learn the pattern to say “big” in a Minspeak system, and then the pattern helps you discover and say semantically related words, like “large” and “huge.” Being able connect one word (big) with a new word (large) strengthens a person’s language skills.
  • The patterns in a Minspeak system makes it easy to learn and produce morphology – the endings at the end of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. Once you know how to say “go,” follow the pattern to say “goes,” “going,” “went,” “gone,” and “to go.”