Developmental Checklist - Children's Speech & Language

Responds to voices, sounds 

Recognises voices, tones

Localises to sounds

Cries at different pitches to express different needs

Smiles

Coos

Produces ‘p’, ‘b’ and ‘m’ sounds in babbling

Listens when spoken to

Responds to his/her name

Understands “no” and common objects (e.g., bottle)

Understands some simple commands

Uses more complex babbling

Uses speech intentionally

Uses gestures to communicate

Produces first words

Understands additional simple commands

Points to one to three body parts

Makes more requests

Speech is unintelligible

Imitates words and sounds

Has an expressive vocabulary of 5-20 words

Has a receptive vocabulary of 300 and more words

Points to pictures in a book

Understands five body parts and basic categories ( e.g. , food)

Speech is 25%-50% intelligible to strangers

Has an expressive vocabulary size of 50-100 words or more

Names common objects

Begins to use pronouns ( I, me, you), although may still confuse these

Begins to use possessives (my, mine) 

Begins to put two word together

Has a receptive vocabulary of 500-900 words

Follows 2-step directions

Identifies more body parts

Requests objects by naming

Understands “one” and “all”

Knows at least three prepositions ( e.g., in, on, under)

Speech is 50%- 75% intelligible

Has an expressive vocabulary of 50-250 words and more

Uses 2-4 word phrases

Uses pronouns : I, you, me correctly

Begins to use some plurals and past tense

Has a receptive vocabulary of 1,200-2,000 words or more

Follows 2-3 step directions

Knows names of familiar animals

Knows one or more colours

Understands opposites (e.g., stop-go)

Starts to understand past and now

Speech is 80% intelligible

Has an expressive vocabulary of 800-1,500 words or more

Uses at least four prepositions

Produces 4-5 word sentences

Uses 'am', 'are', 'is' in sentences

Uses regular plurals, possessives and simple past tense verbs consistently

Uses some regular plurals, contractions, conjunctions and future tense verbs

Has a receptive vocabulary of 10,000 words or more

Understands more special concepts

Understands short stories and can answer simple questions about them

Follows 3-step commands

Speech is intelligible to most strangers

Counts to ten by rote

Uses more descriptive words

States function of common objects

Produces 4-6 word sentences

Relates experiences at preschool or school

5-6 years

Follows instructions in a group setting

Has a receptive vocabulary of 13,000 words or more

Uses past and future tense appropriately

Uses conjunctions

Produces 5-7 word sentences

Uses more details in sentences

Retells a story

Counts to 30 by rote

Names days of the week

Asks “how” questions

Has a receptive language of 20,000 words or more

Understands most concepts of time ( e.g., before, after)

Understands left  and right

Counts to 100 by rote

Understands terms such as: alike, different, beginning, end.

Is competent with simple reading and writing

Follows complex directions without repetition

Uses compound and complex sentences

Can have a reciprocal conversation