LANGUAGE

Children learn to listen to and understand language (RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE) before they speak and use language (EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE).
The guidelines below will help you determine if your child’s language skills are developing normally.

i. Babies: 0-12 months

Language learning starts at birth. Even new babies are aware of the sounds in the environment. They listen to the speech of those close to them, and startle or cry if there is an unexpected noise. Loud noises wake them, and they become “still” in response to new sounds.
Between 0-3 months babies learn to turn to you when you speak, and smile when they hear your voice. They seem to recognise your familiar voice, and will quieten at the sound of it if they are crying. They will move in response to a voice and or will stop their activity and attend closely to the sound of an unfamiliar voice.They can tell the difference between angry and friendly voices and will often respond to comforting tones whether the voice is familiar or not. They communicate by crying, cooing, smiling, and making eye contact
Between 4 to 6 months babies respond to the word “no”. They also respond to changes in your tone of voice. They enjoy toys and other objects that make sounds, music and rhythm, and look for the source of new sounds.
Your child will now begin blowing raspberries and laughing.
By 7 to 12 months your baby listens when spoken to, turns and looks at your face when called by their name, and enjoys people games like “round and round the garden”, and “peep-boo”.
He or she recognises the names of familiar objects (“Daddy”, “car”, “eyes”, “ball”, “shoe”) and begins to respond to requests (“Give it to mummy”) and questions (“More juice?”).
They communicate by babbling, using sounds made with the lips (e.g. b and m) in sequences like “baba”, “mama” and then begin using other sounds (e.g. d, m, n, h, w, t).
By 12 months babies use up to four different sound combinations: “dada”, “mama”, “babu”, “baba”.
They babble with changes in tone using a variety of syllables (e.g “ba da da do”, “da gee da gee”); say “uh-oh” or “ow”; and use consistent verbal approximation for people or objects (e.g. “bor” for ‘ball’).

ii. Toddlers: 1-2 years

Toddlers experience a huge development in speech sounds and triple the number of words they can say between 1and 2 years of age. They accumulate more words as each month passes.
By 12-15 months they understand 3-20 words & use any 1-10 words.
By 15-18 months they understand 50 words and use any 10-20 words.
By 18-21 months they understand 100 words and use 50-75 words (60 % names of objects and 25 % action words).
By 21-24 months children understand 250-300 words and use 150-300 + words.
Now your child will point to pictures in a book when you name them, and can point to a few body parts when asked (nose, eyes, tummy).
He or she can also follow simple commands (“Push the bus!”, “Don’t touch; it’s hot!”) and understand simple questions (“Where’s the bunny?”, “Who likes Rex?”, “What’s in the bag?”).
Your toddler now likes listening to simple stories and enjoys it when you sing songs or say rhymes. This is a stage in which he or she will want the same story, rhyme or game repeated many times.
He or she will even ask 2-word questions like “Where ball?”, “What that?”, “What doing?”, “More chippies?”, and combine two words in other ways, e.g. “doggie go”, “No doggie”, “More push”, “Baby eat”, “Big ball”.
They will occasionally use some word endings, for example “sleeping”

iii. Toddlers: 2-3 years

Between the ages of 2 to 3 years of age, children go from saying 150- 300+ words to using nearly 1000 words, and will still be learning new words every day. Your toddler will now understand two stage commands (“Get your socks and give them to daddy”) and understand contrasting concepts or meanings (e.g. hot/ cold). He or she notices sounds like the telephone or doorbell ringing and may point or become excited, get you to answer, or attempt to answer themselves. Sentences will become more complex over this time. He or she seems to have a word for almost everything. Utterances are usually one, two or three words long. The beginning of early grammar may emerge with the use of plurals (cats), verbs (running, jumping), pronouns (I, me, my, you), location words (on, in), and tense (e.g. saw, ate, went).

iv. Pre-Schoolers : 3-4 years

Your three or four year old understands simple “Who?”, “What?” and “Where?” questions. Fast paced speech and language development continues at this stage of communication development. Sentences are becoming longer as your child can combine four or more words. Grammar also becomes more complex. They begin to use “and” and “but” to join sentences (e.g. “I want the blue one and/but he wants the red one”). They also now ask “Why”, “How”, “When”, and “Who” questions. He or she talks about things that have happened away from home, and is interested in talking about pre-school, friends, and other experiences. Children are connecting and co-ordinating many ideas in a single sentence. This shows how far children have developed in just a few short years.

v. Pre-Schoolers: 4 to 5 years

Children in this age range enjoy stories and can answer simple questions about them. They hear and understand nearly everything that is said at home or at pre-school or day care. They speak clearly and fluently in an easy-to-listen-to voice. He or she can construct long and detailed sentences and can tell a long, involved imaginative story sticking to the topic, and using “adult-like” grammar. They can readily engage in a two-way conversation by expressing ideas, thoughts, requests and demands!
Your child can communicate easily with familiar adults and with other children. The may tell “tall stories” and engage strangers in conversation when you are out together. Between 4-5 years, children start to develop skills that will be important for learning to read and write (called “pre-literacy skills”). They become aware that spoken words can rhyme (e.g., cat – bat), and can be broken into syllables/beats (e.g., am-bu-lance).

Vi. Primary School Aged Children: 5 + YEARS

The vast majority of children’s speech and language skills will have developed by the time they reach prep, or reach 5 years of age. Children should now be easy to understand by both familiar and unfamiliar listeners. All sounds of speech should be mastered by now and used in fluent language. “S” “TH” “R” sounds in particular should be pronounced accurately without distortion. Grammatical competence is generally completed and adult like sentences are used. The sentences tend to be long and complex especially in their ‘story telling’. Information presented should make sense and be sequenced correctly. There should be few, if any, grammatical errors. They should remember and follow longer and more complex instructions in correct sequence.

As a parent, you can make all the difference in helping your child become the best communicator they can be. If you find that your child’s language development is falling behind, don’t wait – take action right away to ensure that he or she gets the help they need. It is rare for these difficulties to naturally resolve. A “wait and see” approach means that precious time can be lost during this critical learning phase
It is never too early to seek help and consult a speech pathologist about your concerns. Research has shown that the earlier we start to help children the better their outcomes

References:

1. Weiss, CE (1982). Weiss Intelligibility Test. Tigard, OR: CC. Publications.

2. Bowen, C. (1998). Ages and Stages Summary: Language Development 0-5 years. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/ on (June 2015)

(June 2015)