Normal Speech and Language Development
At 12 months children can usually:
Understanding:
- Understand about 10 words
- Respond to their name
- Recognise greetings and gestures, such as ‘hi’ and ‘bye-bye’
- Recognise a few familiar people and objects (e.g., mummy, blankie, teddy)
- Make eye contact
Expressive (Use)
- Start to use sounds, gestures, and say a few words (more, no, ball, go)
- Continue to babble
- Copy different sounds and noises
At 18 months children can usually:
Understanding:
- Understand up to 50 words and some short phrases
- Follow simple instructions (e.g., ‘throw the ball’)
- Point to familiar objects when named
- Point to some pictures in familiar books
Expressive (Use)
- Say 6 to 20 single words – some easier to understand than others, but becoming more consistent
- Copy lots of words and noises
- Name a few body parts
- Use objects in pretend play (e.g., hold toy phone to their ear and say ‘hello?’)
At 2 years children can usually:
Understanding:
- Follow simple two part instructions (e.g., ‘give me the ball and the car’)
- Respond to simple wh-questions, such as ‘what’ and ‘where’
- Point to several body parts and pictures in books when named
- Understand when an object is ‘in’ and ‘on’ something
Expressive (Use)
- Say more than 50 single words
- Put two words together (e.g., ‘bye teddy’, ‘no ball’)
- Use their tone of voice to ask a question (e.g.,‘teddy go?’)
- Say ‘no’ when they do not want something
- Use most vowel sounds and a variety of consonants (m, n, p, b, k, g, h, w, t, d)
- Start to use ‘mine’ and ‘my’
At 3 years children can usually:
Understanding:
- Follow more complex two part instructions (e.g., give me the teddy and throw the ball)
- Understand simple wh-questions, such as ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘who’
- Understand the concepts of ‘same’ and ‘different’
- Sort items into groups when asked (e.g., toys vs food)
- Recognise some basic colours
Expressive (Use)
- Say four to five words in a sentence
- Use a variety of words for names, actions, locations and descriptions
- Ask questions using ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘who’
- Talk about something in the past, but may use ‘-ed’ a lot (e.g., ‘he goed there’)
- Have a conversation, but may not take turns or stay on topic
At 4 years children can usually:
Understanding:
- Answer most questions about daily tasks
- Understand most wh-questions, including those about a story they have recently heard
- Understand some numbers
- Show an awareness that some words start or finish with the same sounds
Expressive (Use)
- Use words, such as ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘because’, to make longer sentences
- Describe recent events, such as morning routines
- Ask lots of questions
- Use personal pronouns (e.g., he/ she, me/you) and negations (e.g., don’t/can’t)
- Count to five and name a few colours
SCHOOL READINESS SKILLS
Congratulations! Your child is starting Kindergarten. This is a huge milestone for all children.
Below is a checklist of skills that we expect children who speak English to develop before starting school. Children who are exposed to other languages at home may develop language skills differently. Have a look below and think about what your child is able to do.
If you are concerned about your child’s communication development, please speak to a Speech Pathologist who will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
At 5 years children can usually:
Understanding:
- Follow three part instructions (e.g., put on your shoes, get your backpack and line up outside)
- Understand time related words (e.g., ‘before’, ‘after’, ‘now’ and ‘later’)
- Start thinking about the meaning of words when learning
- Understand instructions without stopping to listen
- Begin to recognise some letters, sounds and numbers
Expressive (Use)
- Use well-formed sentences to be understood by most people
- Take turns in increasingly longer conversations
- Tell simple, short stories with beginning, middle and end
- Use past and future verbs correctly (e.g., ‘went’, ‘will go’)
- Use most speech sounds, but still may have difficulties with ‘s’, ‘r’, ‘l’ and ‘th’
SCHOOL READINESS SKILLS
Congratulations! Your child is starting Kindergarten. This is a huge milestone for all children.
Below is a checklist of skills that we expect children who speak English to develop before starting school. Children who are exposed to other languages at home may develop language skills differently. Have a look below and think about what your child is able to do.
If you are concerned about your child’s communication development, please speak to a Speech Pathologist who will be happy to answer any questions you may have.