Language Development in Children

Age of Child	Typical Language Development
12 month	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
1 year	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
3years	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
4years	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
6years	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
8years	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