With thanks to Fionnuala O’Driscoll, Speech and Language Therapist at Wood Street Specialist Children’s Services for the table below:
| Age (years) | 0-1 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 5-6 | 6-7 |
| Attention and Listening | Distractible | Single channelled | Single channelled but flexible | Shared attention | Shared and integrated attention | Able to focus for longer periods of time | Can spend hours on chosen activity |
| Play and Social Interaction | Exploratory, relational or constructive.Eye contact and turn taking from birth. | Symbolic or pretend play.Turn taking in play from 18 months. | Pretend and imaginary play.Plays with others in small groups. | Role play.Cooperative play develops.May like simple jokes. | Chooses own friends.Learn to turn take in conversation.Can discuss emotions. | Able to play games by rules.Plans sequences of pretend events in play. | Group play with less pretend play.Can play alone happily. |
| Understanding of Language | Understands a few simple words (bye bye) | Understands familiar words and phrases in context | Follows simple instructions and later short stories | Follows short stories and longer instructions | Understands stories, longer instructions and conversations | Understands 13,000 words.Beginning to reason and understand abstract concepts | Understanding of vocabulary doubles in size.Understands abstract concepts. Can reason, predict, and infer. |
| Use of Language | Cooing, babble, simple words | First words and later 2 word phrases | 2-3 word phrases – longer phrases | Longer 4-5 word sentences usually well formed (4 yr) | Well formed sentences combining up to 8 words.Tells simple sequence of events. | Longer sentences with mostly appropriate grammar.Tells simple stories. | Uses language for a range of purposes e.g. persuade, question, negotiate, discuss.Tells more complex stories. |
| Speech | p, b, m, w and vowels | n, t, dSpoken words not always recognizable. | k, g, ng, h | f, s, l, y | sh, z, v, ch, th, r, clusters May have difficulty with multisyllabic words (hospital) | Generalising speech sounds to connected speech | Generally mature by 7 years old |
I have found a useful SALT resource in the form of the referral form for Worcestershire’s SALTs. It provides a nice reminder of speech and language developmental milestones from 9 months to 5 years and when we should refer to the speech and language specialists. Have a look at http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cms/pdf/SLCN-Amended%20-SLTReferralGuidelinesforHealthProfessionals.pdf.