Speech-language development – What can a child do at what age?

How far along is a child in terms of speech-language development at a certain age? What should a child be able to do in terms of speech and language at the various age stages? One child learns faster than another. This developmental overview gives the average of normal speech and language development. What capabilities should a child have? A clear overview of speech-language development per age phase of children from 2 months to 8 years.

What should a child be able to do at a certain age?

An overview of the speech-language development of children aged 0 to 7 years, based on the average age at which children should be able to master certain speech and language skills. In reality, there are of course always individual differences, due to, among other things, differences in the pace of development, the chronology of development phases and the possibilities that the child itself may or may not have. Environmental aspects also play a crucial role (degree of stimulation, language use at home, the family, type of school, etc.).

Speech and language skills for a baby, toddler, preschooler, child

The development overview provides a guiding indication of the average age at which a child should have certain speech and language skills (in relation to average or normal normal development).

In Signals for developmental problems you can find which characteristics are available to identify possible developmental delays, developmental problems or perhaps developmental disorders in the speech-language area (as early as possible) and to intervene or provide guidance if this proves necessary.

What does a child control?

Child development – 0 to 8 months
Child development – 8 to 24 months
Child development – 2 to 3 years
Child development – 3 to 4 years
Child development – 4 to 8 years

Child development – 0 to 8 months

Age Stage Child	Speech-language development stages Child – Speech Language skills from 0 to 8 months
0 – 6 weeks	Phase of undifferentiated motor skills (crying period), to train breathing, functioning of the vocal cords, functioning of the attachment (by sucking)
5 – 6 weeks	Emotional crying = contact with the outside world
3 – 20 weeks	Intentional crying
2nd – 3rd month	Gurgling throat sounds (also in children who never learn to speak)
	Great variety of sounds
	Acoustic element comes into play
4 – 5 months	Babbling phase
	Repeating rows of the same syllable
	The lips now participate in sound production
	The voiceless laughter turns into ‘crows’
	Laughing and chatting noises
5 – 6 months	Affective vocalizations, in which pleasure and frustration can be distinguished
	Recognizes mother’s voice
6 – 7 months	Practice of controlled sounds
	Sounds with intonation, also distinction in volume, pitch
	Repetition sounds (auto-imitation)
	Echolalia (unconscious imitation of the last heard sound group)
7 – 8 months	Echolalia slowly progresses to light imitation

Child development – 8 to 24 months

Age Stage Child	Speech-language development stages Child – Speech Language skills from 8 to 24 months
From 8 months	Active attempts at imitation, with sentence melody (social babbling)
	Random string of sounds (slang)
	Occasionally 2-syllable sounds
	Whispering invites imitation
From 9 months	Vocabulary phase
	Meaningful use of certain sound groups
	Understands simple commands
From 11 months	Executes simple requests
	Can interpret gestures and make the right sound
From 12 months	Actual language phase
	Systematically used first word(s)
	Only nouns are used
12 – 18 months	One-word phase (holophrase period)
	Can imitate words, but does not use them himself
	Relationship between certain sound group and certain concept = beginning of symbol function
	Babbles a lot; keeps monologues while playing
	Understands more and more words
	At the age of approximately 1.5 years, he has a passive vocabulary of approximately 70 words
	Interpretation of what the child says depends on the context in which it is said
18 – 24 months	Starts talking more, now also uses verbs (= act)
	Can say no, but not yet clearly ‘yes’
	Uses words to name things – building concepts
	Starts joining 2 words together, such as property names, eg milk is called; first judgment
	Has no understanding of language rules whatsoever
	Enjoys learning new words – always asking the question: ,is that, (is that period)
	Switching many consonants
	Double consonants are still too difficult, become single: for example toel = chair
	Start compound sentence, e.g. Pim not sape
	Has approx. 300 words that it understands

Child development – 2 to 3 years

Age Stage Child	Speech-language development stages of the Child – Speech Language skills from 2 to 3 years
2 – 3 years	Babbling disappears and becomes real talking
	Pronunciation improves, especially with consonants
	At 2.5 years the vocabulary is approximately 400 – 500 words
	Double consonants are slowly being used better, but often in the wrong order (e.g. weps = wasp)
	More linguistic forms are used, such as prepositions
	Separation of I and the other – use of the I-form and therefore also the you-form
	Pronouns me, you etc.
	Lots of what and why questions; not so much for knowledge, but rather for attention
	Forms of plural, first according to one rule, namely: s (beds)
	Past tense, usually according to one rule, namely -the- behind everywhere (e.g. asked, etc.)

Child development – 3 to 4 years

Age Stage Child	Speech-language development stages of the Child – Speech Language skills from 3 to 4 years
3 – 4 years	An understanding of language rules arises
	Endless ‘why questions’, where people listen more to the answer
	The child understands a lot
	Tells many stories
	Not many pronunciation errors anymore; no difficulty with consonants, except with difficult double combinations (e.g. weps – wasp)
	Still having trouble with sentence structure
	Often pseudo-stuttering
	Has approximately 600 words available (passive)

Child development – 4 to 8 years

Age Stage Child	Speech-language development stages of the Child – Speech Language skills from 4 to 8 years
4 – 5 years	The pronunciation is almost entirely correct, but there are some slips of the tongue
	The sentences become longer
	The most important grammatical rules are largely applied well
	Beginning of the development of abstract concepts
	Use of the causal clause (because, because)
6 years	Has approx. 500 – 3000 words available (passive)
approx. 8 years	Articulation development completed
	All grammatical constructions are rudimentarily present

Speech-language development – Signs of Developmental Problems
Motor development – What can a child do at what age?
Social Development – What can a child do at what age?
Game & game development – What can a child do at what age?
Development of Self-reliance Child – What at what age?