Speech and Language Milestones
By the age of 2 years your child should:
Be able to name a number of common objects
Combine 2 words: “more milk”, “want toy”, etc.
Have a vocabulary of 150-300 words
Respond to commands such as “show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)”
By the age of 3 years your child should:
Use pronouns “I”, “you”, and “me” correctly
Know at least 3 prepositions, usually “in”, “on” and “under
Know basic body parts
Handle 3 word sentences easily
Have a vocabulary of approximately 1000 words
About 90% of what they say should be intelligible
Understand most simple questions
Be able to give their gender, name, and age
By the age of 4 years your child should:
Know names of familiar animals
Be able to use at least four prepositions or demonstrate his or her understanding of their meaning when given commands
Know two or more colors
Usually be able to repeat words of four syllables
Use extensive verbalization as he or she carries out activities
Understand such concepts as “longer” or “larger” when a contrast is presented
By the age of 5 years your child should:
Use many descriptive words
Know common opposites: “big-little”, “hard-soft”, etc.
Have a number concepts of 4 or more
Be able to count to ten
Have completely intelligible speech
Be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words
Be able to define common objects in terms of use (hat, shoe, chair)
Be able to follow three-step commands
Have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after, tomorrow, etc.
Have speech that is grammatically correct
By the age of 6 years your child should:
Have speech that is completely intelligible and socially useful
Be able to tell a listener a connected story about a picture, seeing relationships between objects and happenings