Receptive Language – Does your child comprehend?
| Age | Milestone |
| 12 months | Your child should recognize the names of simple, common objects, familiar people, and action verbs. |
| 18 months | Your child should understand new words each week, identify pictures in a book, know a few major body parts, and identify some common objects. |
| 2 years | Your child should recognize many common objects and pictures when named. They should also be able to follow several simple directions. |
| 3 years | Your child should be able to listen to simple stories, follow a two step command, and understand the concept of taking turns. |
| 4 years | Your child should be able to correctly identify colors, understand “more” and “most”, and make inferences. |
| 5 years | Your child should understand time concepts, understand qualitative concepts, and understand “-er” as “one who does something”. |
| 6 years | Your child should understand passive voice tense, identify objects that don’t belong, and be able to order pictures from largest to smallest. |
Expressive Language – How your child communicates; through words, gestures, etc.
| Age | Milestone |
| 12 months | Your child should use anywhere from one to three words. |
| 18 months | Your child should repeat some overheard words and begin to try to communicate with more words than gestures. |
| 2 years | Your child should join words into phrases such as “more ball” or “bye mama”. |
| 2½ years | Your child should begin to use short phrases 3-4 words in length. |
| 3 years | Your child should have a vocabulary of approximately 1000 words and be about 75% intelligible. |
| 3½ years | Your child should be able to name pictures in a book, tell how an object is used, and use possessives. |
| 4 years | Your child should be about 95% intelligible, even to unfamiliar listeners. |
| 4½ years | Your child should be able to respond to “where” questions and complete analogies. |
| 5½ years | Your child should be able to repeat sentences, use adjectives to describe objects, use past tense forms of verbs (-ed), and describe similarities. |
| 6½ years | Your child should be able to define words, rhyme words, and repair grammatical errors. |
SPEECH SOUNDS – At what age a particular speech sound should be mastered?
| Age | Milestone |
| 3 | m, n, h, p, f, w, b, and d |
| 4 | k, g, and t |
| 5 | j and v |
| 7 | ing, l, s, r, ch, z, th, and sh |
FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT (Occupational Therapy)
Use this chart as a guideline. If your child is unable to do multiple tasks under his or her age range, then an OT referral might be necessary.
| Age | Milestone |
| 7-12 months | • Able to pick up small objects using thumb and finger/fingers |
| 10 months | • Pokes and/or points with index finger |
| 12-18 months | • Holds crayon with whole hand, thumb up |
| 2 years | • Holds crayon with thumb and all fingers, forearm turned so thumb is pointing down • Puts on shoes, socks, and shorts; takes off shoes and socks • Can use a spoon independently, keeping it upright • Can draw and copy a vertical line |
| 2½-3 years | • Strings large beads • Snips paper with scissors • Rolls clay/playdoh into “snake” • Can draw and copy a horizontal line |
| 3-3½ years | • Able to complete simple puzzles • Can build a tower of nine small blocks • Can get himself dressed/undressed independently; only needs help with buttons; still confuses front/back for clothes, • and right/left for shoes • Can feed self with little or no spilling • Drinks from a cup/glass with one hand |
| 3½-4 years | • Can pour his own drink from a pitcher (if not too heavy) • Can place small pegs into small holes • Able to string small beads • Can hold a pencil with a “tripod grasp” (3 fingers), but moves forearm and wrist to write/draw/color |
| 4-4½ years | • Can use scissors to follow and cut both straight and curved lines • Can manage buttons, zippers, and snaps completely • Can draw and copy a cross (one vertical and one horizontal intersecting lines) |
| 4½-5 years | • Can hold fork using his fingers • Can feed self soup/cereal with little or no spilling • Folds paper in half, making sure the edges meet • Puts a key in a lock and opens it |
| 5 years | • Can get dressed completely by himself, and usually tie shoelaces • Cuts square, triangle, circle, and simple pictures with scissors • Uses a knife to spread food items (jelly, peanut butter, mayo etc.), uses a dull knife to cut soft foods • Able to draw and copy a diagonal line • Uses a “tripod grasp” on writing utensils (thumb & tips of 1st two fingers) and uses fingers only to write/draw/color |
| 5½-6 years | • Can build a five block “bridge” • Sufficient hand coordination to cut out complex pictures, accurately following the outline • Able to copy a sequence of letters or numbers correctly |
| 6 years | • Able to complete complex, jigsaw type puzzles |