I don't like the term 'normal development'. Every child is unique and develops at a different rate. We do however need some guidelines to understand when a child is falling behind in their development and to know when to provide intervention. Here are some guidelines on Typical Speech and Language Development.

Development of Speech Sounds
By 3 years of age your child should be producing: p, b, m, w, h, t, d, n, y, k, g
By 4 1/2 years of age your child will also be showing use of: s, z, sh, ch, j, l, f
By 8 years of age: all sounds are clear and your child should also be correctly producing: v, r and th.

Please note that these are only guidelines and there are other factors to consider when assessing your child's speech development.

Typical Language Development
9-12 months

• babbles
• tries to copy sounds for objects and animals
• responds to name
• follows some very simple instructions

12-18 months

• points to objects when named
• begins to use single words
• expresses wants by gestures, actions and facial expressions

18-24 months

• begins to put two words together
• has a vocabulary of 25-50 words
• understands simple questions and instructions

2-3 years

• uses sentences of 3-5 words
• not all sentences are correct but child is starting to use some grammatical structures
• tends to talk in present tense and confuses pronouns

3-4 years

• the child is beginning to use sentences that are correct
• the meaning of the sentences is clear
• starting to use more grammatical structures
• child can answer a range of different questions
• child asks lots of questions

4-5 years

• nearly all sentences are correct
• child can tell long stories about his/her own experiences
• knows common colours
• can follow a range of instructions