Integrated Treatment Services is writing a series of articles based on the content of the ‘What Is Speech Therapy’ website, a fantastic resource for parents and carers who have questions about their child’s speech and language development. Part 2 of the series (https://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/news/item/0/143/what-is-speech-therapy–2/?a=nh) focused on the typically developing speech and language milestones expected of infants aged from 7 months to 3 years of age.
This week, we will be focusing again on typical speech and language development, but this time for our final age category:
3. 3 to 5 years Milestones (from the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association)
3 – 4 Years Hearing and Understanding
- Hears you when you call from another room
- Hears television or radio at the same loudness level as other family members
- Answers simple “who?”, “what?”, “where?”, and “why?” WH questions
Talking
- Talks about activities at school or at friends’ homes
- People outside of the family usually understand child’s speech
- Uses a lot of sentences that have 4 or more words
- Usually talks easily without repeating syllables or words
Frequently Asked Questions
What preventative actions should I take?
Screen hearing regularly. You know your child better than anyone. The setback resulting from hearing loss can seriously affect speech and language development throughout the rest of his/her life. Catching it early and treating the disorders can help your child build confidence and become the person you hope they’ll become.
4 – 5 Years
Hearing and Understanding
- Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about them
- Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school
- Communicates easily with other children and adults
Talking
- Uses sentences that give lots of details (“The biggest peach is mine”)
- Tells stories that stick to topic
- Says most sounds correctly except a few like l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, th
- Says rhyming words
- Uses the same grammar as the rest of the family
These milestones clearly show that by the young age of 5, children are able to understand and express themselves fluently and with great detail. They will have come a very long way in a relatively short space of time.
So why is early intervention so important?
There is now lots of evidence and research to tell us that children under the age of 5 will have the most success with speech and language therapy. The evidence also tells us that this is the best time for any issues to be addressed before the child moves into a more communicatively strenuous school environment. Nearly all NHS services throughout the UK have entire services dedicated to early years intervention.
If you think that your child has not reached the majority of their milestones within a chosen category and may have a speech and/or language delay or disorder, Integrated Treatment Services can be of help. Contact us here: https://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/contact-us/enquiry
Next week – Part 4 – Delay vs. Disorder – is your child a late bloomer or do they have a disordered pattern of communication?
Sarah Bennington, October 2011
Written on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services. Integrated Treatment Services is a private Speech and Language Therapy service based in Leicestershire and the East Midlands. It specialises in providing highly-skilled Speech and Language Therapists, but also associates with other therapeutic professionals, including Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Psychologists and Arts Therapists.
