Language Development Chart

Language Development Chart
Age of Child -Typical Language Development

6 Months
• Vocalization with intonation
• Responds to his name
• Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes
• Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones

12 Months
• Uses one or more words with meaning (this may be a fragment of a word)
• Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are
given
• Practices inflection
• Is aware of the social value of speech

18 Months
• Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words
• Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns
• Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over)
• Much jargon with emotional content
• Is able to follow simple commands

24 Months
• Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings
• Is able to use at least two prepositions, usually chosen from the
following: in, on, under
• Combines words into a short sentence-largely noun-verb combinations (mean)
length of sentences is given as 1.2 words
• Approximately 2/3 of what child says should be intelligible

Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words
• Rhythm and fluency often poor
• Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled
• Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me, you, although me and I are often
confused
• My and mine are beginning to emerge
• Responds to such commands as "show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)"

36 Months
• Use pronouns I, you, me correctly
• Is using some plurals and past tenses
• Knows at least three prepositions, usually in, on, under
• Knows chief parts of body and should be able to indicate these if not name
• Handles three word sentences easily
• Has in the neighborhood of 900-1000 words
• About 90% of what child says should be intelligible
• Verbs begin to predominate
• Understands most simple questions dealing with his environment and
activities
• Relates his experiences so that they can be followed with reason
• Able to reason out such questions as "what must you do when you are sleepy,
hungry, cool, or thirsty?"
• Should be able to give his sex, name, age
• Should not be expected to answer all questions even though he understands
what is expected

48 Months
• 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 in picture books or magazines
• Knows one or more colors
• Can repeat 4 digits when they are given slowly
• Can usually repeat words of four syllables
• Demonstrates understanding of over and under
• Has most vowels and diphthongs and the consonants p, b, m, w, n well
established
• Often indulges in make-believe
• Extensive verbalization as he carries out activities
• Understands such concepts as longer, larger, when a contrast is presented
• Readily follows simple commands even thought the stimulus objects are not
in sight
• Much repetition of words, phrases, syllables, and even sounds


60 Months
• Can use many descriptive words spontaneously-both adjectives and adverbs
• Knows common opposites: big-little, hard-soft, heave-light, etc
• Has number concepts of 4 or more
• Can count to ten
• Speech should be completely intelligible, in spite of articulation problems
• Should have all vowels and the consonants, m,p,b,h,w,k,g,t,d,n,ng,y (yellow)
• Should be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words
• Should be able to define common objects in terms of use (hat, shoe, chair)
• Should be able to follow three commands given without interruptions
• Should know his age
• Should have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later,
after, while
• Tomorrow, yesterday, today
• Should be using fairly long sentences and should use some compound and some
complex sentences
• Speech on the whole should be grammatically correct

6 Years
• In addition to the above consonants these should be mastered: f, v, sh, zh,
th,1
• He should have concepts of 7
• Speech should be completely intelligible and socially useful
• Should be able to tell one a rather connected story about a picture, seeing
relationships
• Between objects and happenings

7 Years
• Should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the
soft g as in George
• Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims,
blunt-sharp short-long, sweet-sour, etc
• Understands such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc
• Should be able to tell time to quarter hour
• Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words

8 Years
• Can relate rather involved accounts of events, many of which occurred at
some time in the past
• Complex and compound sentences should be used easily
• Should be few lapses in grammatical constrictions-tense, pronouns, plurals
• All speech sounds, including consonant blends should be established
• Should be reading with considerable ease and now writing simple compositions
• Social amenities should be present in his speech in appropriate situations
• Control of rate, pitch, and volume are generally well and appropriately
established
• Can carry on conversation at rather adult level
• Follows fairly complex directions with little repetition
• Has well developed time and number concepts


Child Development Institute. (2010, online resource). Language Development In Children. http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/language_development.shtm