It is important to discuss speech and language development, as well as other developmental concerns, with your child's pediatrician at routine well-child appointments. Although it may be difficult to tell whether your child is just immature in his or her ability to communicate or if your child has a problem that may require professional attention, the following developmental norms may provide useful information.
By Age One:
Between Age One and Two:
Between Two and Three:
Between Three and Four:
Language is crucial in communicating ideas and expressing wants and needs to others.
Forms of language include reading, speaking, and writing. Speech is the spoken form of language. Children learn language and speech by listening to the language around them and practicing what they hear. When a SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) addresses language with a student it would generally refer to some area of semantics (word meaning), grammar (syntax and/or morphology, or pragmatics (use of language). These language problems can be recepive (impaired language comprehension), expressive (language production), or a combination of both.
Vocabulary/Semantics: This refers to the acquisition of words and their meaning. Vocabulary can be either "receptive" which is what you understand, or "expressive which is what you are able to use. Some instructional areas might be one or two word concepts, using or understanding verbs, adjectives, prepositions, categorization, definition, words with multiple meanings, analogies, figurative language and implied meanings.
Grammar-Syntax-Morphology: This refers to using correct word order and grammar. Some language problems require step by step instruction of plurals, possessives, verb tense, pronouns, Wh-questions, or sentence construction.
Pragmatics: This refers to actually using language to communicate. Students might need direct instruction on listening, question comprehension, problem solving, conversational skills, taking turns, and exchanging information."