By the age of 4, most children have the following skills:

Receptive Language:

  • Understand shape and colour names
  • Understand some “time” words, e.g. lunch time, today
  • Understand “why”, “how”, “how many” questions
  • Understand concepts (long, short, soft, hard, heavy, light)
  • Can sort objects / pictures into categories
  • Follow 3 step instructions (e.g. get the ball, give it to mummy and put the plate in the sink)

Expressive Language:

  • Ask many questions, usually ‘what’ or ‘who’ questions
  • Use lots of words, about 900, usually in four to five word sentences
  • Use correct grammar with occasional mistakes, such as “I falled down”
  • Use connector words such as ‘because’ and ‘but’ to make longer sentences
  • Use language when playing with other children
  • Speak clearly enough to be understood by most people
  • Develop a range on descriptive words to convey shape, size, texture
  • Use ‘and’ and ‘because’ at the beginning of sentences
  • Tell two events in order of occurrence (e.g. “first we went swimming and then we did a painting”)
  • Use some plurals (e.g. books, toys, cars)
  • Use eye-contact more consistently during conversations

Sounds that are correctly produced:

  • p
  • b
  • m
  • w
  • h
  • n
  • t
  • d
  • y
  • k
  • g
  • ng
  • f
  • l
  • s
  • z
  • sh

Play:

  • Play is imaginative and involves the use of language

Literacy:

  • Tell stories about a topic
  • There is some sequence in the story but no plan
  • Engage in rhyming
  • Show some awareness of the sounds that words start or end in

Cause for concern:

  • People find it difficult to understand your child
  • Limited or no use of grammatical elements (e.g. verb endings ‘ed’ and plurals)
  • Unable to give a clear account of an event that occurred while you were not present (e.g. tell about a school excursion)

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s language development, feel free to complete the checklist for a speech pathologist to review

    By the age of 4, most children have the following skills:

    Receptive Language
    Understands shape and colour namesUnderstands some "time" words, e.g. lunch time, todayUnderstands prepositions next to, behind, in frontUnderstands "why", "how", "how many" questionsUnderstands concepts (long, short, soft, hard, heavy, light)Can sort objects / pictures into categoriesFollow 3 step instructions (e.g. get the ball, give it to mummy and put the plate in the sink)

    Expressive Language:
    Asks many questions, usually ‘what’ or ‘who’ questionsUse lots of words, about 900, usually in four to five word sentencesUse correct grammar with occasional mistakes, such as "I falled down"Use language when playing with other childrenSpeak clearly enough to be understood by most peopleDevelops a range on descriptive words to convey shape, size, textureUses ‘and’ and ‘because’ at the beginning of sentencesTell two events in order of occurrence (e.g. "first we went swimming and then we did a painting")Use eye-contact more consistently during conversationsConsistently uses plurals (books, toys, cars)

    Sounds that are correctly produced:
    pbtdnmwkghyngfl
    **Sounds should be correctly produced in the beginning, middle and end of words

    Play:
    Play is imaginative and involves the use of language

    Literacy:
    Tells stories about a topicThere is some sequence in the story but no planEngage in rhyming

    Cause for concern:
    People find it difficult to understand my childLimited or no use of grammatical elements (e.g. verb endings ‘ed’ and plurals)Unable to give a clear account of an event that occurred while you were not present (e.g. tell about a school excursion)

    Please complete the below and we will be in touch

    Would you like to be contacted regarding your child's language development?:
    Yes pleaseNo thankyou