Free Checklist: Speech skills for kids aged 0-7

Your son or daughter’s speech and language development begins before they say their first words. This helpful chart, shared by the speech therapists at Kids First in Sydney’s northern beaches, will help you determine if your child is reaching their speech and language developmental milestones.

All children are different and the age at which they acquire speech and language skills often vary, however the order in which these developmental milestones are achieved is usually the same.

CHILD’S AGE

0-6 months

TYPICAL SPEECH AND LANGUAGE SKILLS

Responds to voices, sounds
Recognises voices, tones
Cries at different pitches to express different needs
Smiles
Coos
Produces ‘p’, ‘b’ and ‘m’ sounds in babbling

7-12 months

Listens when spoken to
Responds to his/her name
Understands “no” and common objects (e.g., cup)
Understands some simple commands
Uses more complex babbling
Uses speech intentionally
Uses more gestures to communicate
Produces first words

19-24 months

Understands additional simple commands
Points to one to three body parts
Makes more requests
Speech is unintelligible
Repeats more
Has an expressive vocabulary of 5-20 words

2-3 years

Has a receptive vocabulary of 500-900 words
Follows 2-step directions
Identifies more body parts
Requests objects by naming
Understands “one” and “all”
Knows at least three prepositions ( e.g., in, on, under)
Speech is 50%- 75% intelligible
Has an expressive vocabulary of 50-250 words and more
Uses 2-4 word phrases
Uses pronouns : I, you, me correctly
Begins to use some plurals and past tense

3-4 years

Has a receptive vocabulary of 1,200-2,000 words or more
Follows 2-3 step directions
Knows names of familiar animals
Knows one or more colours
Understands opposites (e.g., stop-go)
Starts to understand past v s. now
Speech is 80% intelligible
Has an expressive vocabulary of 800-1,500 words or more
Uses at least four prepositions
Produces 4-5 word sentences
Uses –am, are, is in sentences
Uses regular plurals, possessives and simple past tense verbs consistently
Uses some regular plurals, contractions, conjunctions , and future tense verbs
Follows instructions in a group setting

4-5 years

Has a receptive vocabulary of 10,000 words or more
Understands more special concepts
Understands short stories and can answer simple questions about them
Follows 3-step commands
Speech is intelligible to most strangers
Counts to ten by rote
Uses more descriptive words
States function of common objects
Produces 4-6 word sentences
Relates experiences at preschool, school, etc.

5-6 years

Has a receptive vocabulary of 13,000 words or more
Uses past and future tense appropriately
Uses conjunctions
Produces 5-7 word sentences
Uses more details in sentences
Retells a story
Counts to 30 by rote
Names days of the week
Asks “how” questions
Asks “how” questions

6-7 years

Has a receptive language of 20,000 words or more
Understands most concepts of time ( e.g., before, after)
Understands left and right
Counts to 100 by rote
Understands terms such as: alike, different, beginning, end.
Is competent with simple reading and writing

When should you worry about your child?

If your child has a limited vocabulary for their age and a combination of two or more of the above risk factors, consulting a speech pathologist may be helpful.

International research has shown that children who have a risk factors such as

a family history of speech, language and literacy issues,
comprehension problems,
difficulties making themselves understood

are at greatest risk of having a continuing language delay [1].

So, instead of adopting a “wait and see” approach, we strongly recommend that you seek advice about your child as early as possible.

A paediatric speech pathologist is trained to identify children’s communication needs.

A simple consultation may relieve you of your worries if your child’s skills are tracking well, but if that consultation picks problems up early, you will gain a valuable opportunity to help your child catch up with peers quickly and easily.

Do issues resolve on their own?

The short answer is yes, it is possible for children’s communication challenges to resolve on their own – but only sometimes.

While some children’s speech, language and listening issues do resolve without intervention, studies are showing that this group of children usually have to work harder to achieve social and academic success do not perform as well as their peers in certain aspects of language, literacy and learning [3].

If your child is a ‘Late Talker’ contact Kids First to find out how we can help your son or daughter to avoid further language difficulties later on

Worried about your child’s speech?

Kids First Children’s Services in Sydney’s Northern Beaches has a team of health professionals who can help. Our paediatric Speech Pathologists are experienced in the support of children aged 0-12 and they can help your child too.

Call us on (02) 9938 5419 or click on the image below to make an appointment with a member of our team

References:

Ellis, E. & Thal, D. (2008). Early Language Delay and Risk for Language Impairment. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 15: 93-100.
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (2008, May 16). Mixed Results For Late-talking Toddlers. ScienceDaily. 16 May 2008. Web. 10 Jun. 2011.
Rice, M. L., Taylor, C. L., & Zubrick, S.R. (2008). Language outcomes of 7-year-old children with or without a history of late language emergence at 24 months. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51, 394-407.

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