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If you suspect that your child is not developing speech and language within normal limits or they are having difficulty being understood by strangers, discuss your concerns with your pediatrician or contact Horizon Speech Center to schedule a free consultation.
| Age |
Language and Speech Behaviors |
| 1 year |
- Recognizes his or her name
- Understands simple instructions
- Initiates familiar words, gestures, and sounds
- Uses “mama” “dada”, and other common nouns
|
| 1 ½ years |
- Uses 10 to 20 words, including names
- Recognizes pictures of familiar persons and objects
- Combines two words, such as “all gone”
- Uses words to make wants known, such as “more”, “up”
- Points and gestures to call attention to an event and to show wants
- Follows simple commands
- Follows simple actions
- Hums, may sing simple tunes
- Distinguishes print from non-print
|
| 2 years |
- Understands simple questions and commands
- Identifies body parts
- Carries on conversation with self and dolls
- Asks “what” and “where”
- Has sentence length of two to three words
- Refers to self by name
- Names pictures
- Uses two-word negative phrases, such as “no want”
- Forms some plurals by adding “s”
- Has about a 300-word vocabulary
- Asks for food and drink
- Stays with one activity for 6 to 7 minute
- Knows how to interact with books (right side up, page turning from left to right)
|
| 2 ½ years |
- Has about 450-word vocabulary
- Gives first name
- Uses past tense and plurals; combines some nouns and verbs
- Understands simple time concepts, such as “last night”, “tomorrow”
- Refers to self as “me” rather than name
- Tries to get adult attention with “watch me”
- Likes to hear same story repeated
- Uses “no” or “not” in speech
- Answers “where” questions
- Uses short sentences, such as “me do it”
- Holds up fingers to tell age
- Talks to other children and adults
- Plays with sounds of language
|
| 3 years |
- Matches primary colors; names one color
- Knows night and day
- Begins to understand prepositional phrases such as “put the block under the chair”
- Practices by talking to self
- Knows last name, sex, and several nursery rhymes
- Tells a story or relays an idea
- Has a sentence length of three to four words
- Has vocabulary of nearly 1,000 words
- Consistently uses m, n, ng, p, f, j, and w
- Draws circles and vertical lines
- Sings songs
- Stays with one activity for 8 to 9 minutes
- Asks “what” questions
|
| 4 years |
- Points to red, blue, yellow, and green
- Identifies crosses, triangles, circles, and squares
- Knows “next month, “next year”, and “noon”
- Has sentence length of four to five words
- Asks “who” and “why”
- Begins to use complex sentences
- Correctly uses m, n, ng, g, f, h, w, y, k, b, d, and g
- Stays with activity for 11 to 12 minutes
- Plays with language (e.g., word substitutions)
|
| 5 years |
- Defines objects by their use and tells what they are made of
- Knows address
- Identifies penny, nickel, and dime
- Has sentence length of five to six words
- Has vocabulary of about 2,000 words
- Uses speech sounds correctly, with the possible exceptions being y, th, s/z, and r
- Knows common opposites
- Understands “same’ and “different”
- Counts 10 objects
- Uses future, present, and past tenses
- Stays with one activity for 12 to 13 minutes
- Questions for information
- Identifies left and right hand on self
- Uses all types of sentences
- Shows interest and appreciation for print
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| 6-7 years |
- Identifies most sounds phonetically
- Forms most sound-letter associations
- Segments sounds into smallest grammatical units
- Begins to use semantic and syntactic cues in writing and reading
- Begins to write simple sentences with vocabulary and spelling appropriate for age
- Uses theses sentences in brief reports and creative short stories
- Understands time and space concepts, such as before/after, second/third
- Comprehends mathematical concepts, such as “few”, “many”, “all”, and “except”
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| 8, 9, 10, 11 years |
- By second grade, accurately follows simple directions for action and thereby acquires new knowledge
- Substitutes words in oral reading, sentence recall, and repetition: copying and writing dictation are minimal
- Comprehends reading materials required for various subjects, including story problems and simple sentences
- By fourth grade, easily classifies words and identifies relationships, such as “cause and effect”; defines words (sentence context); introduces self appropriately; asks for assistance
- Exchanges small talk with friends
- Initiates telephone calls and takes messages
- Gives directions for gamed; summarizes a television show or conversation
- Begins to write effectively for a variety of purposes
- Understands verbal humor
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Adolescent and
Young Adult |
- Interprets emotions, attitudes, and intentions communicated by others’ facial expressions and body language
- Takes role of other person effectively
- Is aware of social space zones
- Displays appropriate reactions to expressions of love, affection, and approval
- Compare, contrasts, interprets, and analyzes new an abstract information
- Communicates effectively and develops competence in oral and written modalities
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Source: Ohio Statewide Language Task Force, (1990). Developmental milestones: Language behaviors. In Ohio Handbook for the Identification, Evaluation and Placement with Children of Language Problems (1991). Columbus: Ohio Department of Education. Reprinted by permission.
Editor’s Note. These milestones are variable due to individual differences and variance in the amount of exposure to oral and written communication. |
Speech Sound Development Chart
Horizontal bars indicate a range of typical sound development in children.
Expressive Language Chart |
Grammatical Structure |
Developmental Norm |
Therapy Indicated If Not Acquired By: |
Nouns |
plurals (e.g., two cookies or two watches) |
2 - 2 ½ years |
3 ½ years |
possessives (e.g., girl's washroom) |
2 - 2 ½ years |
3 ½ years |
Verbs |
present progressive (ing) (e.g., She is washing) |
2 ½ - 3 years |
3 ½ years |
present singular (-s) (e.g., She washes the dishes OR She eats a lot) |
2 ½ - 3 years |
4 years |
aux/copula (is/are) - uncontracted (e.g., She is washing OR They are hungry) |
2 ½ - 3 years |
3 ½ years |
aux/copula - contracted (proper use of apostrophes) (e.g., He's tired or She's eating cookies) |
2 ½ - 3 years |
4 years |
regular past tense (e.g., She washed the dishes) |
2 ½ - 3 years |
4 ½ years |
irregular past tense (e.g., She wrote a letter) |
3 ½ - 4 years |
5 years |
future tense (e.g., She is going to write a letter OR She will write a letter) |
3 - 3 ½ years |
5 years |
Pronouns |
first person (I, me, you) (e.g., I want you) |
2 - 2 ½ years |
3 years |
gender (he, she, they) (e.g., She is happy) |
2 ½ - 3 years |
4 years |
possessive (his, hers, theirs) (e.g., That's his dog) |
3 ½ - 4 years |
4 ½ years |
object (him, her, them) (e.g., Go and see him) |
3 - 4 years |
4 ½ years |
Negatives |
2 ½ - 3 years |
3 ½ years |
Questions |
N-v inversion (e.g., Are you coming?) |
3 ½ - 4 years |
4 ½ years |
Wh? (e.g., When are you going?) |
3 ½ - 4 years |
4 ½ years |
Prepositions |
in, on, under (e.g., The dog put his bones under the table and in my shoe.) |
2 ½ - 3 years |
3 ½ years |
behind, infront, beside, between (e.g., It's beside you between the two chairs) |
3 ½ - 4 years |
4 ½ years |
General Suggestions for Language Development
- Imitation - By imitating what your child has said, you are showing your interest. It is also a way of confirming that you understand what he/she said. To imitate, repeat his/her statement back using correct grammar and pronunciation. This will let him/her hear the correct form without saying he/she was wrong.
- Expanding - In response to your child's initiation of interaction, you can expand what he/she said by adding more words to make the sentence clearer. For example:
| Child: |
Daddy |
| Parent: |
Daddy help |
| Or Child: |
Doggie run |
| Parent: |
The doggie is running |
| Child: |
Doggie |
| Parent: |
He's soft or touch his fur |
- Talk about what you and your child are doing - The moment to talk about experiences is as they are happening. This is when they are most meaningful.
- Be animated - If you are enthusiastic and entertaining, it makes communication more fun and keeps your child interested in the topic. Use facial expressions (e.g., smiling, nodding) and vary intonation in your voice.
- Ask questions - If you can't understand your child, repeat what he/she said with questioning intonation in your voice. This will encourage him/her to clarify what he/she has said. If this doesn't work, guess at the message. This confirmation will increase your child's self-confidence,
- Encourage interactions - Use non-verbal behaviours such as getting down to the child's physical level while playing or talking, do things that interest the child, encourage participation and pause to allow your child time to respond.
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