How do I know if my child needs speech therapy?
A basic guide to childrens speech and language milestones by age
AGE TWO
- Can understand and follow two step instructions e.g. ‘Put the doll on the chair’.
- Combines up to 2 word sentences.
- Vocabulary: 150-300 words.
- Uses ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘I’.
- Uses descriptive words: colours, size, ‘more’ and ‘dirty’.
- Sounds mastered: m, n, w, p, b, d, t.
AGE THREE
- Understands and follows three step instructions e.g. ‘give the banana and apple to the teddy’.
- Combines 3 word sentences.
- Vocabulary: 900-1000 words.
- Uses, plurals (he/she), prepositions (in, on, under) and past tense verbs (e.g. jumped, skipped etc).
- Able to reason ‘what do you do if you are hungry/sleepy/thirsty’
- Sounds mastered: m, n, w, p, b, d, t, g, k, c, h, y,
AGE FOUR
- Understands and follows up to four step instructions ‘give the red car to the big teddy’.
- Uses large complex sentences that are usually grammatically correct and fluent.
- Extensive verbalisation as activities are carried out.
- Speech should be easily understood by strangers.
AGE FIVE
- Understands and follows complex instructions.
- Uses large and complex sentences that are grammatically correct and similar to an adult.
- Can accurately sequence stories.
- Speech is highly fluent and easily understood by strangers.
- All sounds mastered except for: th.