The Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) communication skills lexicon, compiled for use in the development of elementary instruction, is a set of words used by children between kindergarten and sixth grade. Although the lexicon was originally derived from the most comprehensive and up-to-date sources available, the major studies on which the instrument is based were published 20 to 30 years ago. In order to obtain a contemporary set of children's words, a study of new words was undertaken. Words from six sources of new terms were selected by two reviewers. The resulting list was edited independently by eight adults knowledgeable about contemporary children's vocabulary. Terms agreed upon by at least 50% of the editors were retained. The remaining terms were submitted to 166 students from seven sixth-grade classes. Words known by 60% of the responding students constituted a set of 322 new words, which can be categorized as primarily compounds, affixed forms, figures of speech, shortened forms, and foreign loan words. (Author/KS)