Today is our final part of the Typical Language Development series, and we’ll explore the language milestones for a preschooler. During these years children are excited and challenged by the world that surround them. This is the time when friendships can become long-lasting relationships, their language is very concrete, and physical movements are more coordinated. Lots of changes and lots of learning happening during this time. Here’s what to expect:
- They use sentences that give lots of details (“The biggest peach is mine”).
- They tell stories that stick to topic.
- They communicate easily with other children and adults.
- They say most sounds correctly except a few like l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, th.
- They say rhyming words.
- They name some letters and numbers.
- They use the same grammar as the rest of the family.
- 90% of their speech is intelligible
- They pay attention to a short story and answers simple questions about them.
- They hear and understand most of what is said at home and in school.
What you can do to help encourage language
During this time, continue expanding on social communication and narration skills (telling a story) by role-playing. Play house, doctor, and store using dialogue, props, and dress-up clothes. Do the same with a dollhouse and its props, acting out scenarios and making the dolls talk.
What do you think about the Language Development series? What did you learn?