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Disorder vs. Delay
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The order in which children learn speech sounds
and language forms is fairly predictable. Most children follow
the same pattern of development. When a child is developing
skills in this order but is doing it more slowly, he/she has a
speech/language delay. Sometimes a child does not have the same
speech or language skills as other children his/her age and is
not just slow in developing. They have gaps in development -
they may have some skills that are age-appropriate but are
missing some that should have been learned when they were
younger. They may say use some sounds or forms that are unusual
and never used by any child at any age. This is considered a
disorder. |
Speech and language milestones
are divided into three areas: language comprehension, language
expression and speech.
Normal Speech/Language Development
Birth to 6 months
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-startles to loud noises
-quieted by a familiar voice
-watches speaker's face
-stops moving when name is called
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-vocalizes a variety of sounds for
pleasure and displeasure
-babbling at 6 months |
-mostly vowel sounds
- strings of sounds, with consonants
p,b. |
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6 to
12 months
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-turns to environmental sound
-shows a reaction to certain words
("no", "bye-bye")
-follows commands accompanied by a
gesture
-anticipates an event
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-copies sounds made by another
person
-behavior becomes intentional
- uses gestures, pushing or pulling to
communicate nonverbally
- first word appears around 12 months
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-repetitive babbling
- "p, b, t, d"
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12
to 18 Months
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-identifies familiar objects
when named
-understands up to 50 words
-understands simple commands
-looks to family members when named
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-has a vocabulary of 3-20 words
- uses one word utterances with
gestures to communicate
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-single words and jargon
-may leave off sounds at the beginning
or end of words
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18
to 24 Months
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-points to 3-5 body parts on self when
named
-follows simple directions without
cues/gestures
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-has a vocabulary of more than 20 words
-refers to self by name
-uses pronouns (me, my, mine)
- produces strings of single word
utterances ("daddy", "up") and begins to use 2 word
utterances ("more juice", "no sleep")
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-speech is at least 50% intelligible.
-"p, b, m, n, w, h, k, g"
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2
to 2.5 Years
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-follows 2 step commands
-understands several pronouns (him,
his, your, mine)
-points to pictures in a book when
named (objects and actions)
-understands some quantity concepts
(one vs all)
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-vocabulary increases from 50 to 200
intelligible words
-begins to use grammatical markers ("ing"
verb ending, plural "s" ending)
- uses 3 word combinations by age 2
and1/2
-uses rising inflection to ask
questions
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-speech is 60-70% understandable to
unfamiliar listeners
-may leave off sounds at end of words
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2.5 to 3 Years
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-identifies objects by use (what do we
cut with?)
-understands prepositions "in, out,
on, off "
-understands some descriptive words
"big, little, wet, dirty, fast, slow/
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-uses 3 and 4 word sentences by
age 3
-has vocabulary of at least 200-300
words
-uses words like "because", "or", "if"
-asks simple questions
-uses possessives
-uses negatives "won't, can't, don't"
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-uses "p,b,m,n,w,h,f,
ng,y,k,g,t,d" |
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3
to 4 Years
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-understands negatives
-knows most body parts (arm, leg,
knee, elbow, thumb, chin, ...)
-knows most primary colors
-can make inferences
-follows 3 action commands
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-vocabulary increases to 900-1500 words
by 4 years
-can count to 10
-retells a story
-uses "would, should, could" and
corresponding negatives "wouldn't, shouldn't...)
-answers "when " questions
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-all sounds above plus"l, s" |
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4
to 5 Years
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-understands about 2500 words
-understands past, present and future
verbs
-listens to stories
-understands passive sentences
-understands most prepositions
-understands complex directions
-understands time concepts (night,
day, today, yesterday)
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-uses complete sentences, 4-5 words
minimally
-asks "how" and "where" questions
-answers "why" questions
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-above sounds plus "sh, ch, j, v, z, and
r" |
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5
to 6 Years
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Language Comprehension |
Language Expression |
Speech |
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-understands "first, last"
-understands about 4000 words
-understands "right and left"
-understands more quantity concepts
(whole, half)
-understands some jokes, surprise,
make-believe/pretend
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-uses all verb tenses correctly
-has adult-like grammar, using
negatives, possessives, plurals (regular and irregular)
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-uses all sounds correctly |
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Six Years and Beyond
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As children enter school, their speech and
language skills continue to develop. Their vocabulary grows,
their sentences become longer and more complex. They are able to
give definitions for words.
Their conversational skills improve and they
can carry on conversations with adults. They can introduce a
topic, continue it for several turns, and then close or switch
topics. They can adjust their language to meet their partners'
needs; they will repeat or rephrase when not understood. They
know how and when to use polite language forms.
Children improve their storytelling skills.
Their stories have a definite beginning, middle and end.They
tell the events in the proper order.
They discover that sentences are made up of
words, words are made up of syllables and sounds. They can break
sentences and words up into their components. They learn to
read.
By age 7, children understand and use the
basic concepts of time, space and causality. They understand the
meaning of many suffixes: adding "er" to a verb makes it a noun,
adding "ly" to a verb makes it an adverb.
Between 7 and 11 years, children use language
for humour - many riddles and jokes are based on multiple word
meanings. They understand idioms and figurative language: "your
nose is running", "it's raining cats and dogs". Their
perspective-taking skill improves. Reading comprehension
increases as the decoding part becomes easier. |
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