As parents watch their beloved offspring grow from a baby into a pre-school child, there are many developments they look for, and within the realm of speech pathology, we know that speech and language are two of the most important. The ability of a child to understand the language they hear and then articulate it as they learn to speak is essential to a child’s development.
Thankfully, speech pathology has produced a roadmap for a child’s speech and language development, which provides parents with milestones based on their child’s age. The age that many speech pathologists consider critical is between 3 and 5, and this period of a child’s life is called their pre-school years.
As such, speech pathology has identified where a child’s language and speech skills should have reached throughout the 3 years or so they are considered pre-school children. One huge caveat and one which speech therapists often discuss with parents is that every child will develop in different ways and at different rates. It is therefore not wise to think that any child’s speech development will occur in a straight line.
The point we wish to stress is that whilst speech pathology has provided milestones, they are not a replica of how every child will develop, and that is why speech pathologists may consider a child’s language development to be on track, even if parents have concerns that their child is behind. As for those speech pathology milestones for pre-school children, we have outlined them below for both comprehension and expressive language at ages 3, 4, and 5, respectively.
Comprehension – Understanding Language
Aged 3
• Understand basic “WH” questions e.g. who?, what?, where?
• Understand “different” and “same”
• Follow basic 2-part instructions e.g. “close the door”, “get your teddy”
• Sort objects into categories: e.g. clothes, books, toys
• Identify some colours e.g. “blue ball”, “red cup”
Aged 4
• Can answer questions about common daily tasks
• Can understand “WH” questions when asked about recent stories they have listened to
• Has a basic understanding of numbers e.g. “two biscuits”, “three toys”
• Indicates they are aware that certain words begin and end with the same sounds
Aged 5
• Can follow instructions that come in three parts e.g. “eat your breakfast, brush your teeth, then put on your coat”
• When learning new words, they think about their meaning
• Have an understanding of some words related to time e.g. “now”, “later”, “tomorrow”
• Can follow certain instructions almost automatically without having to stop and listen to them
• Starts to recognise certain numbers, letters, and sounds
Expressive Language – Verbal Communication
Aged 3
• Can create short sentences of four to five words
• Can ask basic “WH” questions e.g. who?, where?, what?
• Can talk about events that happened in the past by adding “-ed” to certain words e.g. “jumped”
(NB: At first the use of “-ed” may be overused. For example, using “runned” instead of “ran”)
• Can use words within categories such as names and places
• Can have a basic conversation but may often stray onto another topic
Aged 4
• Can use conjunctions such as “but” and “and” to create more complex sentences
• Will be asking lots of questions in lots of scenarios
• Can discuss recent events such as their day at their early learning centre or preschool
• Frequently using pronouns e.g. he, she, they, you, me
• Can name several colours
• Can count to at least 5
Aged 5
• Can form structured sentences that are easily understood
• Can participate in conversations
• Can create short stories with a beginning, middle, and end
• Uses verbs that represent the past and future properly e.g. did, will be, ate,
• Be able to make most speech sounds but may not yet have mastered “TH”, “L”, “R”, or “S”
