Age of child

Typical Language Development

6 months

Vocalisation with intonation

Responds to name, voices by turning heads and eyes

Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones

12 months

Uses 1 or more words

Understands simple instructions

Is aware of social value of speech

18 months

Has vocabulary of approx. 5-20 words

Mainly nouns

Echolalia (repeating words/phrases over and over)

Jargon with emotion

Can follow simple commands

24 months

Can name some objects in environment

Can use at least 2 prepositions (in, on, under)

Combines words into short sentences- noun-verb

Has vocabulary of approx. 150-300 words

Rhythm and fluency is often poor

Can use 2 pronouns correctly; I, me, you

3 years

Use pronouns I, you, me correctly

Is using some plurals and past tenses

Knows about three prepositions – in, on, under

Knows some parts of the body

Has approx. 900-1000 words

More verbs

Understands simple questions dealing with his environment and activities

Should be able to give his sex, name and age on request

4 years

Knows names of familiar animals

Can use at least four prepositions or can demonstrate his understanding of their meaning when given commands

Names common objects

Can repeat 4 digits

Understand concepts such as longer and larger

5 years

Can use many descriptive words

Knows common opposites

Can count to 10

Should be able to define common objects in terms of use

Should have simple time concepts

Should be using fairly long sentences