Language and Communication Development: Widely Held Expectations

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For 3-year-olds

• Shows a steady increase in vocabulary, ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 words; tends to over-generalize meaning (that is, to say "dog" for any four-legged animal) and make up words to fit needs (call a motorcycle a "chainsaw bicycle.")
• Uses simple sentences of at least three or four words to express needs
• May have difficulty taking turns in conversation; changes topics quickly
• Pronounces words with difficulty; often mistakes one word for another
• Likes simple finger plays and rhymes and learns words to songs that have much repetition
• Adapts speech and style of non-verbal communication to listeners in culturally accepted ways but still needs to be reminded of context
• Asks who, what, where, and why questions but is confused by some questions (especially why, how, and when)
• Uses language to organize thought, linking two ideas by sentence combining, overuses such words as but, because, and when; rarely makes appropriate use of such temporal words as before, until, or after
• Can tell a simple story but must redo the sequence to put an idea into the order of events; often forgets the point of a story and is most likely to focus on favorite parts

For 4-year-olds

• Expands vocabulary to about 5,000 words; shows more attention to abstract uses
• Usually speaks in five-to-six-word sentences
• Likes to sing simple songs; knows many rhymes and finger plays
• Will talk in front of the group with some reticence; likes to tell others about family and experiences
• Uses verbal commands to claim many things; begins teasing others
• Expresses emotions through facial gestures and reads others for body cues; copies behaviors (such as hand gestures) of older children or adults
• Can control volume of voice for periods of time if reminded; begins to read context for social cues
• Uses more advanced sentence structures, such as relative clauses and tag questions ("She's nice isn't she?") and experiments with new constructions, creating some comprehension difficulties for the listener
• Tries to communicate more than his or her vocabulary allows; borrows words to create meaning
• Learns new vocabulary quickly if related to own experience ("We walk our dog on a belt. Oh,it's a leash. We walk our dog on a leash.")
• Can retell a four- or five-step directive or sequence in a story

For 5-year-olds

• Employs a vocabulary of 5,000 to 8,000 words, with frequent plays on words; pronounces words with little difficulty, except for particular sounds, such as "L" and "th"
• Uses fuller, more complex sentences ("His turn is over, and it's my turn now.")
• Takes turns in conversation, interrupts others less frequently; listens to another speaker if information is new and of interest; shows vestiges of egocentrism centrism in speech, for instance, in assuming listener will understand what is meant (saying "He told me to do it" without any antecedents for pronouns)
• Shares experiences verbally; knows the words to many songs
• Likes to act out others' roles, shows off in front of new people or becomes unpredictably very shy
• Remembers lines of simple poems and repeats full sentences and expressions from others, including television shows and commercials
• Shows skills at using conventional modes of communication complete with pitch and inflection
• Uses nonverbal gestures, such as certain facial expressions in teasing peers
• Can tell stories with practice; enjoys repeating stories, poems, and songs; enjoys acting out plays or stories
• Shows growing speech fluency in expressing ideas