Relational Concepts
- top
- another
- under
- missing
- highest
- nearest
- empty
- both
- outside
- down
- largest
- different
- longest
- in front
- many
- across
- most
- smallest
- around
- next
- full
- same
- up
- all
What are Relational Concepts?
Relational concepts are words used to describe qualities of people or objects, spatial relationships, time, and quantity. Children who learn to understand and eventually use relational concepts are better prepared to comply with directions, understand the content of instructional materials, engage in activities in and out of the classroom, and communicate effectively with others. Teaching children concrete nouns (chair, rug) is fairly straightforward, you can point to an object, or hold it in your hand. Relational concepts (behind, under, first, next) are more of a challenge.
…relational concepts shift from one situation to another. A child must be able to apply the same concept across contexts or generalize it to fully understand it (French and Nelson, 1985) which is the basis of difficulty for many children and is a challenge for teachers and therapists .
Boehm (2001) Boehm Test of Basic Concepts, Third Edition
Physically modeling and practicing relational concepts in routines like Freeze or Solo provides helpful scaffolding to teach these essential abstract concepts.
These vocabulary words were taken from the Boehm 3, a set of relational concepts designed to support the foundational conceptual needs of preschool children before they enter Kindergarten.
Interesting Adjectives
What makes an adjective interesting?
References and Additional Reading
Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the reading process and is critical to reading comprehension. Children learn the meanings of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences with oral and written language. Other words are learned through carefully designed instruction.
Boehm, A. E. (1991). Assessment of basic relational concepts. The psychoeducational assessment of preschool children, 241-258.
Facon, B., Magis, D., & Courbois, Y. (2012). On the difficulty of relational concepts among participants with Down syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33(1), 60-68.
Glutting, J. J., Kelly, M. S., Boehm, A. E., & Burnett, T. R. (1989). Stability and predictive validity of the Boehm test of basic concepts—Revised among black kindergartners. Journal of School Psychology, 27(4), 365-371.