Speech and Language
Development Third
Edition

Speech

Meaning & Concepts

Play & Movement

Grammar

Interaction & Expression

• Still some substitution and distortion of consonants
• Intelligibility continues to improve-now 50-80% intelligible to familiar listeners
• Consonants masteted by age 3: p, m, w, h, n, b

• Understands approximately 900 words
• Points to pictures of 10 objects described by use
• Listens to 20-minute story
• Knows own gender and difference
• Knows in, on, and under
• Knows big and little
• Matches colors
• Completes 3-place form board, matches shapes
• Cautious of common dangers (stairways,animals)
• Has complicated, sequenced routines for daily activities (bedtime, meals); objects to change (beginning of time/sequence awareness)
• Uses 250-400 words
• Uses Soo intelligible words
• Answers 6-7 agent 4- action questions (”What runS?”)
• Answers simple ”who,””why,””where,””how many”questions (3 years)
• Answers 1 of3 questions (”What do you do when you’re hungry/sleepy/cold?”)
• Asks simple questions (”What’s that?”)
• Yes/no questions emerging (”Is he sleeping?”)
• Repeats sentence of 6-7 syllables accurately

• Dramatization and imagination begin to enter play (make~believe and pretend)
• Beginning interest in cooperative play-plays with others in small groups
• Interest in combining playthings
• Is willing to wait his/ her turn
• Will put toys away with some supervision
• Watches cartoons on TV
• Names own drawing
• Builds tower of 9 blocks
• Puts together 4-part nesting toy
• Stacks 5 or more rings on a peg in order of size
• Draws horizontal line in imitation
• Imitates drawing a circle

• Uses auxiliary is/am + -ing (“Girl is running”)
• Uses is + adjective (”Ball is red”)
• Regular past tense verbs appear (walk-walked)
• Uses ‘s for possession (”Daddy’s car”)
• Uses pronouns – I, me, you, mine, (he, she, it emerging)
• Negative not emerging
• Uses contracted form of is (“He’s running”)
• Adverbs of location emerging (here, there)
• Begins to use do, can, and will (emerging future tense)
• Uses imperatives (commands: “Go get it,”Don’t”)
• Understands -est adjective marker (biggest)
• Understands third-person pronouns (he, she)
• 20% nouns, 25% verbs
• Mean length of response is 3.4 words
• Infinitive complement (“I want to play”) emerging

• Learning to be kind to others
• Engages in short dialogues
• Gives orders
• Enjoys the company of known adults
• Takes turns in games
• Openly expresses affection
• Likes bedtime rituals
• Learning to share
• Expresses emotion

• Uses final consonants most of the time
• Phonological processes disappearing by age 3:consonant assimilation, diminutization, doubling, final consonant deletion, prevocalic voicing, reduplication, unstressed-syllable deletion, velar fronting
• Speech is becoming more accurate but may still leave off ending sounds
• Strangers may not be able to understand much of what is said

• Builds bridge from model
• Cooperative play begins
• Organizes doll furniture accurately and begins to use in genuinely imaginative ways
• When imitating drawing, draws 2 or more strokes
• Begins to share
• Reenacts experienced events, such as birthday party, baking cookies
• Uses one object to represent another (stick phone or fence)
• Stirs with a spoon

• Enjoys simple songs and games with others
• Greets without prompt
• Initiates activities with parent
• Provides descriptive details for listener
• Uses attention-getting words
• Clarifies; requests clarification
• Tries to tell short stories

• Describes object function
• Enjoys poems and recognizes absurdities
• Answers simple questions
• Repeats sentences
• Groups objects, such as foods, clothes, etc.
• Identifies colors
• Understands concept of “two”
• Follows a 2- or 3-part command
• Recognizes almost all common objects
• Understands most sentences
• Understands l,500-2,000 words
• Knows front and back of clothes
• Uses l,000-1,Soo words
• Can say name, age, and gender
• Can complete simple verbal analogies
• Answers “how much”and “how Iong”questions
• Tells 2 events in order of sequence
• Can tell story, mixing real and unreal
• Appropriately answers ”what if” questions
• Asks “how,”why”,”when” questions

• Uses pronouns (I, you, me, we, they) and some plurals
• Possessive marker ‘s consistent
• Regular third-person singular (-s) consistent
• Simple past tense (t, d) consistent (walk-walked)
• Present progressive is + -ing consistent
• Uses contractions consistently
• Uses negative not consistently
• Uses are, they, their inconsistently
• Reflexive pronoun myself emerging
• Uses some adverbs of time and manner
• Conjunction because emerging
• Uses got (“I got it”)
• What was…”and “What were…”questions emerging
• Mean length of response is 4.4 words
• Combines 4-5 words in sentences
• Complex sentences used frequently
• Imperatives and emphatics used consistently
• Parts of speech now stabilized

• Should be few omissions and substitutions of consonants
• Very intelligible in connected speech
• 90% intelligible

• Identifies parts missing in 2 pictures
• Shows off dramatically
• Copies square
• Much self-praise
• I Uses dolls and puppets to act out scripts
• Good imaginative play
• Makes cube gate from model
• Draws 3-part person
• Colors within lines
• Cuts along a line

• Makes conversational repairs if listener has not understood
• Corrects others
• Uses primitive narratives
• Can maintain conversation for3 turns
• Ends conversations appropriately
• Uses hints to influence listener
• Provides background information for listener

• Begins to have a clearer sense of time
• Follows 3-part commands
• Understands same and different
• Understands behind and next to
• Understands 2,500-2,800 words
• Answers complex comprehension questions
• Points to red, yellow, green, and blue
• Learning spatial opposites (long/short, high/low)
• Classifles according to form, color, or use
• Uses l,500-2,000 words
• Correctly names some colors
• Recalls parts of a story
• Repeats 2 nonsense syllables
• Answers simple ”when” questions
• Responds to “how often,””how long”questions
• Asks and tells meaning of words
• Counts 10 objects
• Shows understanding of sequence-can name first/middle/last
• Identifies missing objects from a group of3
• Speaks in sentences of 5-6 words
• Tells stories
• Lists items that belong in a category

• Understands complex questions
• Uses some irregular past tense verbs, such as ran and fell
• Possessive pronouns his and hers emerge
• Uses will to form future tense
• Fewer errors in agreement between adjective/noun
• Reflexive pronouns becoming more consistent
• Comparative (-er) emerging (bigger)
• Mean length of response is 5.7 words
• Combines 5-8 words in sentences
• Answers “why” questions

• Intelligibility of speech is almost 100%
• Consonant mastered by age 6:1

• Stands on 1 foot for 10 seconds or longer
• Swings, climbs
• Copies drawing of rectangle with diagonals in middle
• Copies drawing of diamond
• Draws human with neck, fingers, clothes, and
• 2-dimensional legs
• Adds 9 parts to incomplete human
• Able to play games by rules
• Builds elaborate structures with blocks
• Plans many sequences of pretend events
• May start collections of related items
• Maybe able to skip
• Hops, somersaults

• Able to distinguish fantasy from reality
• Aware of gender
• Engages in conversation
• Likes to sing, dance, and act
• Often agrees to rules
• Shows more independence
• Sometimes demanding, sometimes eagerly cooperative
• Uses imagination to create stories
• Uses indirect requests
• Better at discussing emotions and feelings
• Wants to please friends
• Tells stories with central character and logical sequence of events, but ending is unclear
• Gives praise and makes promises, threats, and insults
• Asks permission to use others’ belongings
• Recognizes another’s need for help and gives assistance 3
• Uses ”thank you,””you’re welcome,” and please” appropriately

• Understands 20,000-26,000 words
• Roughly understands the difference in time intervals
• Understands seasons, what you do in each
• Prints phone number and full name
• Puts numerals 1-10 in proper order
• Forms letters left to right
• Prints alphabet and numerals from model
• Writes 1-syllable vocabulary words
• Grasps the basic idea of addition and subtraction
• States preceding and following numbers and days of week
• Aware of mistakes in others’ speech
• Knows right from left (by age 6}
• Apt to use slang and mild profanity
• Can tell address, both street and number
• Says the alphabet in order
• Identifies upper- and lowercase letters
• Matches upper- to lowercase letters
• Sight reads 10 printed words
• Counts to 100
• Names numerals 1-10
• Tells time related to a specific daily schedule

• Fairly consistent use of most morphological markers
• If and so developed by most children
• Reflexive pronouns developed by most children
• Irregular comparatives used more correctly (good, better, best)
• Perfect tense have and had emerging
• Nominalization occurring: noun forms are developed from verb forms
• Continued improvement on irregular plurals
• Iteration emerging (“You have to clean clothes to make them clean”)
• Participial complements emerging
• Mean length of response is 7.3 words