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
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
- points to objects when named
- begins to use single words
- expresses wants by gestures, actions and facial expressions
- begins to put two words together
- has a vocabulary of 25-50 words
- understands simple questions and instructions
- 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
- 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
- nearly all sentences are correct
- child can tell long stories about his/her own experiences
- knows common colours
- can follow a range of instructions