Developmental Scales

Speech and Language Development is an important feature of three and four year old development.  The following is a summary of important aspects of such development.

                                                        Stages of Language
                    3 to 6 months        Babbling                    Coos, gurgles and vocal play
                    6 to 9 months        Lalling                       Repeats sounds/sound combinations
                    9 to 12 months      Echolalia                    Imitates sounds without comprehension
                    12 to 18 months    Meaningful Words      First meaningful words
                    18 to 24 months    Combinations             Combines words to enhance meaning

 

                               Percentage of words one should be able to understand from child

                                                        10 months            25 - 50%  

                                                         2 years                50  -  75%
                                                         3 years                75  -  90%
                                                         4 years                90  -  100%

 

                 

                                                     Types of Words a Child uses

                                         1 year            nouns (names of things)
                                         18 months      nouns, verbs and other parts of speech
                                         2 years           nouns, verbs, pronouns and other parts of speech
                                         3 years           nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives
                                         4 years           nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, other parts of speech

 

                                                        

   Size of Vocabulary                                            Sentence Length
               1 year            2 - 3 words                                  10 months        single words
      18 months     20 - 100 words                              2 years            2 words
      2 years          200 - 300 words                            3 years            3 words
       3 years          900 words                                     4 years            4  words

 

 

                                                Average Consonant Speech Sound Development
                                                  2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years        m, h, w, p, b
                                                     4 1/2 years                   t, d, n, k, g, ng, y(yellow)
                                                     5 1/2 years                   f
                                                     6 1/2 years                  v, l, sh, ch, zh, (vision), th (that)
                                                     7 1/2 years                  s, z, r, th (thin), blends (st, br, kl, etc.)

 

The averages presented above are only that, averages; children will differ developmentally according to individual readiness.
 
 

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