Every child is unique and has an individual rate of development. This chart represents, on average, the age by which most children will accomplish the listed skills.
3 to 4 years
Hearing and Understanding:
¨ Hears you when you call from another room.
¨ Hears television or radio at the same loudness level as other family members.
¨ Understands simple who, what, where, why questions.
Talking:
¨ Talks about activities at school or at friends’ homes.
¨ People outside family usually understand child’s speech.
¨ Uses a lot of sentences that have 4 or more words.
¨ Usually talks easily without repeating syllables or words.
4 to 5 years
Hearing and Understanding:
¨ Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about it.
¨ Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school.
Talking:
¨ Voice sounds clear, like other children’s.
¨ Uses sentences that give lots of details.
¨ Tells stories that stick to the topic.
¨ Communicates easily with other children and adults.
¨ Says most sounds correctly except a few, like l, s, r, v, z, sc, sh, th.
¨ Uses the same grammar as rest of family.
Children typically don’t master all items in a category until they reach the upper age in each range. If your child hasn’t accomplished one skill within the age range, this doesn’t mean she has a disorder. However, if you have answered no to the majority of items in an age range, seek the advice of an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist or audiologist. Information provided by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
