Speech and language development checklists€¦ · Speech and language development checklists If...

This information is taken from www.talkingpoint.org -developmental tools and charts. 1

Speech and language development checklists

If not all boxes are ticked for a child’s age range this indicates that the child is delayed for their age and an intervention will be required. For ages 1-19 the information is taken from www.talkingpoint.org

By 1 Year of Age Y N

• Listen carefully, and turn to someone talking on the other side of the room.

• Look at you when you speak and when their name is called.

• Babble strings of sounds, like ‘no-no’ and ‘go-go’.

• Make noises, point and look at you to get your attention.

• Smile at people who are smiling at them.

• Start to understand words like 'bye-bye' and 'up' especially when a gesture is used at the same time.

• Recognise the names of familiar objects, things like ‘car’ and ‘daddy’.

• Enjoy action songs and rhymes and get excited when sung to.

• Take turns in conversations, babbling back to an adult


By 2 Years of Age Y N

• Concentrate on activities for longer, like playing with a particular toy.

• Sit and listen to simple stories with pictures

• Understand between 200 and 500 words.

• Understand more simple questions and instructions. For example 'where is your shoe?' and 'show me your nose'.

• Use 50 or more single words. These will also become more recognisable to others.

• Start to put short sentences together with 2-3 words, such as ‘more juice’ or ‘bye nanny’.

• Enjoy pretend play with their toys, such as feeding dolly



• Listen to and remember simple stories with pictures

• Understand longer instructions, such as 'make teddy jump' or 'where's mummy's coat?'

• Understand simple 'who', 'what' and 'where' questions

• Use up to 300 words

• Put 4 or 5 words together to make short sentences, such as 'want more juice' or ‘he took my ball’.

• Ask lots of questions. They will want to find out the name of things and learn new words.

• Use action words as well as nouns, such as ‘run’ and ‘fall’

• Start to use simple plurals by adding ‘s’, for example ‘shoes’ or ‘cars’.

• Now play more with other children and share things.



• Listen to longer stories and answer questions about a storybook they have just read.

• Understand and often use colour, number and time related words, for example, 'red' car, 'three' fingers and 'yesterday / tomorrow'.

• Be able to answer questions about ‘why’ something has happened.

• Use longer sentences and link sentences together.

• Describe events that have already happened e.g. 'we went park.'

• Enjoy make-believe play.

• Start to like simple jokes

• Ask many questions using words like ‘what’ ‘where’ and ‘why’.

• Still make mistakes with tense such as say 'runned' for ‘ran’ and 'swimmed' for ‘swam’.

• Start to be able to plan games with others


By 5 years of Age Y N

• Understand spoken instructions without stopping what they are doing to look at the speaker.

• Choose their own friends and play mates

• Take turns in much longer conversations

• Understand more complicated language such as ‘first’, ‘last’, ‘might’, ‘may be’, ‘above’ and ‘in between’.

• Understand words that describe sequences such as “first we are going to the shop, next we will play in the park”.

• Use sentences that are well formed. However, they may still have some difficulties with grammar. For example, saying 'sheeps' instead of 'sheep' or 'goed' instead of 'went'.

• Think more about the meanings of words, such as describing the meaning of simple words or asking what a new word means.


By 7 years of age Y N

• Starts to ignore unimportant information

• Is aware when a message is unclear and comments or asks for explanation.

• Understands complex 2 to 3 part instructions: e.g. “Finish your picture from yesterday then with a partner, choose one of the topic books and talk about it quietly on the carpet.”

• Compares words, the way they look, sound or mean: e.g. “There are two words ‘sea’ at the beach, and you ‘see’ with your eyes.”

• Can guess the word from clues, or give others clues using shape, size, function, etc.

• Uses newly learnt words in a specific and appropriate way: e.g. “Dad, you know when you have lots of lions together it is called a pride of lions.”

• Asks lots of questions to find out specific information including ‘How’ and ‘Why’.

• Uses different ways to join phrases to help explain or justify an event: e.g. “I’m older than you so I will go first.”

• Tells stories that set the scene, have a basic plot and a sequence of events.

• Begins to be aware of what the listener already knows and checks: e.g. “You know where I live, right? Well, in that big house by the shop…”

• Accurately predicts what will happen in a story

• Takes turns to talk, listen, and respond in two-way conversations and groups.

• Keeps to a topic but easily prompted to move on if it takes over

• Copies others’ language and begins to be aware of current peer language: , ‘Cool’, or ‘Yeah right.’

• Uses and experiments with different styles of talking with different people.



• Listens to key information and makes relevant, related comments: e.g. “So all mammals are warm blooded, have fur or hair and their babies all drink milk.”

• Identifies clearly when they haven’t understood: e.g. “What’s maize?” or “Get a blue what?”

• Able to infer meaning, reason and predict: e.g. “It’s getting very hot in here,” means open the window.

• Uses a range of words related to time and measurement: e.g. century, calendar, breadth.

• Uses a wide range of verbs to express their thoughts, or about cause and effect: e.g. “I wonder what she’s thinking,” or, “If we run we should get there on time but we might arrive late.”

• Joins in discussions about an activity using topic vocabulary: e.g. “I saw some chicken eggs hatching in the incubator on the farm last Friday.”

• Uses regular and unusual word endings: e.g. walked or fell.

• Uses complex grammar and sentences to clarify, summarise, explain and plan: e.g. “So the bee collects the pollen from the stamen and then flies to another flower and pollinates it.”

• Stories have a good structure with a distinct plot, an exciting event, clear resolution and conclusion: e.g. “…and everyone got home safely which was great.”

• Uses intonation to make storytelling and reports exciting and interesting.

• Adds detail or leaves information out according to how much is already known by the listener.

• Uses formal language when appropriate in some familiar situations: e.g. Showing a visitor around school.

• Understands conversational rules: e.g. Looks at listener to judge feedback. Gives


more detail if needed.

• Uses tone of voice, stress on words and gestures naturally to add meaning.

• Uses language for full range of different reasons: e.g. complimenting, criticizing, negotiating.



• Sustains active listening to both what is said and the way it is said.

• Follows longer instructions that are not familiar: e.g. “Put the stripy folder that’s on top of the cupboard into the bottom drawer of my desk.”

• Understands different question types: e.g. open, closed, rhetorical.

• Understands simple jokes and simple idioms, but can’t really explain why they are funny or what they mean: e.g. You can’t have your cake and eat it.

• Makes choices from a wide and varied vocabulary: e.g. ‘Leap’ instead of ‘jump’, ‘terrified’ instead of ‘frightened’.

• Uses sophisticated words but the meaning might not always be accurate: e.g. “My bedroom was meticulous.”

• Knows that words can have two meanings and uses them appropriately. Can’t always explain how they are linked: e.g. ‘Hard’ (rigid object and tough person).

• Uses long and complex sentence structures: e.g. “I will come with you only because it means you will stop going on at me.”

• Uses questions to help conversations flow

• Sentences average about 7 to 10 words - longer in stories than in conversation.

• Knows when a sentence is not grammatically correct and can explain rules of grammar.

• Tells elaborate entertaining stories which are full of detailed descriptions.

• Everyday language is detailed and not always about their immediate experience.

• Incorporates a subplot in telling stories and recalling events, before resolving the main storyline.


• Uses complex joining words: e.g. meanwhile, therefore

• Uses different language depending on where they are, who they are with and what they are doing: e.g. Formal style with the headteacher in school; relaxed and informal with family at home; and ‘cool’ language with friends in the park.

• Communicates successfully; shares ideas and information, gives and receives advice, and offers and takes notice of opinions.

• Realises when people don’t fully understand and tries to help them.



• Understands instructions which don’t follow the word order of the sentence e.g. before you collect your instruments, complete the work sheet and file it in your folder.

• Can build an argument to persuade and respond to views different to own

• Separates fact from opinion when reading

• Makes inferences, working out information that isn’t explicitly written or spoken e.g. The day was dark and thick coats were required.

• Understands less obvious ‘sayings’ e.g. you’re skating on thin ice.

• Confident in noticing and understanding sarcasm with clues.

• Still challenged by some instruction words e.g. modify,generate,consider

• Uses patterns in words that: -able, -esque, un-, dis-.

• Uses ‘academic words’ when prompted to all formal tasks: agitated, arrogant, excruciating.

• Can confidently explain the meaning of subject words and words with multiple meanings

• Links sentences using more difficult joining words e.g. even though, however

• Produces well-planned, complex stories with complete sections and plenty of detail

• Gives clear and detailed explanations of rules, or breaks down steps in more complex sequences

• Average length of spoken sentences 7 to 12+ words

• Understands and uses slang terms with peers; keeps up with latest ‘street talk’

• Can keep a topic of conversation going even if the person they are talking to finds this skill harder


• Fully understands the difference between talking with peers to speaking in the classroom e.g. I use bigger and posher words in school than when I’m talking to my mates.



• Able to following complex directions

• Knows when and why they don’t understand; asks for help in a specific way e.g. can you explain that to me again? I got the beginning but I don’t understand the last step.

• More skilled in using a range of arguments to persuade others

• Reads and understands a wide variety of topics

• Fully understands sarcasm and is able to use it well e.g. I’m so happy to see you

• Knows what these instruction words are asking them to do : evaluate, find themes, compile.

• Uses a good range of descriptive words and expressions: swaggered, noxious, and meandered.

• Is able to use difficult joining words to make complex sentences: provided that, similarly.

• Can tell long and complex narratives ensuring the listener understands the thread of the story throughout

• Average length of spoken sentences 9 to 13+ words

• Able to stay on one topic of conversation for long periods and move sensibly from one topic to another

• Able to switch easily between informal and formal styles of talking depending on the audience e.g. off to college now for an interview. Seeing my mates later..better watch my mouth with Sam’s mum..was a bit rude last time.

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Speech Sound Development

SOUND AGE USUALLY

ACQUIRED

(YRS)

EXAMPLES OF

COMMON

SUBSTITUTIONS

HOW THIS

MAY SOUND

p, b, m, w 2.0 p “b” pin bin

t, d, n 2.6 t “d” teddy deddy

c/k, g 4.0 c “t”, “d” “g”

g “d”

cat tat

dog dod

f 4.0 f “p”, “b”, “s” finger pinger

four bour

v 5.6 v “b” glove glub

th dialectal th “b”, “f” thing bing

bath baf

s, z 4.0 (8 if lisp) s “s”, “d”

(s “th”)

sea tea

sun dun

sh 6.0 sh s fish fiss

ch 6.6 ch “t”, “sh” chair tair

j 7.0 j “d”, “dz” jam dam

l 6.0 l “y”, “w” ladder yadder

leg weg

r 8.0 r “w”, “y” red wed

y 8.0 y “l” yellow lellow

s blends 5.0 sp “p”, “b”

sn “s”, “n”

spoon boon

snake nake

l blends 6.6 bl “b”, “l” blue boo

r blends 8.0 pr “pw”, “p”,

“r”

pram pwam

final sounds 4.0 bus bu

hat ha

initial sounds 4.0 cup up

sun un

15

It is often helpful to think of intelligibility levels when considering whether a referral to Speech and Language Therapy is needed. Consider how well words can be understood by parents (or an adult that knows the child very well). This table can act as a guide:

(ref: Caroline Bowen)

By 18 months a child's speech is normally 25% intelligible By 24 months a child's speech is normally 50 -75% intelligible By 36 months a child's speech is normally 75-100% intelligible

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Northamptonshire Every Child a Talker

Early Communication and Language Child Monitoring Tool

Individual child details

Child’s name: Date child started in setting:

Date of birth: EAL:

Setting: Gender:

Practitioner: Additional needs:

Record of completion

Date of completion Date: Date: Date:

Age at time of completion

Age: ……yrs ……mths Age: ……yrs ……mths Age: ……yrs ……mths

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Learning, Achievement and School Improvement

Notes on monitoring early communication and language

Observation and best-fit judgements

• Judgements of a child’s stage of development are made through a process of ongoing observational assessment.

• Observation involves noticing what children do and say in a range of contexts, and includes information from the family about what

children do and say at home.

• For children learning English as an additional language, it is important to find out from families about how children use language in

their mother tongue and how they communicate at home.

• The assessment is a ‘best fit’ match to a stage band. This involves considering what is known about the child, and matching it to the

development described in the bands. This should be considered separately for each strand of communication and language.

• Development of speech sounds need not be assessed specifically, but it is useful to be aware of typical development which is described

in the table on the back of the next page.

Checkpoints

• Alongside the ‘best fit’ judgement, certain ‘Checkpoint’ statements are included. Marked with a flag ⌦⌦⌦⌦ and a specific age, these

are particular statements which should be noted.

• Where a child has not reached a Checkpoint by the age indicated, this is not necessarily a sign of difficulty. The Checkpoint

statements serve as an alert for close monitoring including discussion with the family, and perhaps further assessment or support.

Making good progress

18

• The goal of monitoring children’s development is to plan and provide more accurate support for each child to make good progress.

• How well a setting helps children to make good progress can be determined by analysing the proportion of children who are at risk of

delay, as expected, or ahead of expectations in each strand of language and communication. If children are making accelerated

progress, the proportion of children at risk of delay should decrease over time.

• In considering whether a child is at risk of delay, as expected, or ahead in each strand of language and communication, it is necessary

to consider the child’s actual age in months in relation to the overlapping age bands. If a child is within two months of the end of the

age band and development is not yet within the band or is judged to be ‘Emerging’, then a judgement of ‘risk of delay’ would be

appropriate.

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Stage

Listening and Attention Understanding

(Receptive Language)

Talking

(Expressive Language)

Social Communication

0-11 months

Turns toward a familiar sound then locates range of

sounds with accuracy.

Listens to, distinguishes and responds to intonations

and sounds of voices.

Quietens or alerts to the sound of speech.

Fleeting Attention – not under child’s control, new

stimuli takes whole attention.

Stops and looks when hears own

name. (by 12 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦)

Gradually develops speech sounds (babbling) to

communicate with adults; says sounds like ‘baba,

nono, gogo’. (by 11 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦)

Gazes at faces and copies facial movements, eg.

sticking out tongue.

Concentrates intently on faces and enjoys

interaction.

Uses voice, gesture, eye contact and facial

expression to make contact with people and keep

their attention. (by 12 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦)

8-20

months

Concentrates intently on an object or activity of own choosing for short periods.

Pays attention to dominant stimulus – easily

distracted by noises or other people talking.

Moves whole bodies to sounds they enjoy, such as

music or a regular beat.

Has a strong exploratory impulse.

Responds to the different things said when in a familiar context with a

special person (e.g. ‘Where’s

Mummy?’, ‘Where’s your nose?’).

Understanding of single words in

context is developing, e.g. ‘cup’,

‘milk’, ‘daddy’

Uses single words. (by 16 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦) Frequently imitates words and sounds.

Enjoys babbling and increasingly experiments with

using sounds and words to communicate for a range of

purposes (e.g. teddy, more, no, bye-bye)

Likes being with familiar adult and watching them. Developing the ability to follow an adult’s body

language, including pointing and gesture.

Learns that their voice and actions have effects on

others.

Uses pointing with eye gaze to make requests, and

to share an interest. (by 18 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦)

16-26

months

Listens to and enjoys rhythmic patterns in rhymes

and stories.

Enjoys rhymes and demonstrates listening by trying

to join in with actions or vocalisations.

Rigid attention – may appear not to hear.

Selects familiar objects by name and

will go and find objects when asked,

or identify objects from a group.

Beginning to put two words together (e.g. ‘want ball’,

‘more juice’) (by 24 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦)

Uses different types of everyday words (nouns, verbs

and adjectives, e.g. banana, go, sleep, hot)

Beginning to ask simple questions.

Gradually able to engage in ‘pretend’ play with toys

(supports child to imagine another’s point of view).

Looks to others for responses which confirm,

contribute to, or challenge their understanding.

22-36

months

Single channelled attention. Can shift to a different

task if attention fully obtained – using child’s name

helps focus. (by 36 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦)

Listens with interest to the noises adults make when

they read stories.

Recognises and responds to many familiar sounds

e.g. turning to a knock on the door, looking at or

going to the door.

Identifies action words by pointing to

the right picture, e.g., "Who's

jumping?" (by 30 months ⌦⌦⌦⌦)

Understands 'who', 'what', 'where' in

simple questions (e.g. Who’s that/can?

What’s that? Where is.?).

Developing understanding of simple

concepts (e.g. big/little)

Learns new words very rapidly and is able to use them

in communicating.

Uses action, sometimes with limited talk, that is

largely concerned with the ‘here and now’ (e.g.

reaches toward toy, saying ‘I have it).

Uses a variety of questions (e.g. what, where, who).

Uses simple sentences (e.g.’ Mummy gonna work.’)

Beginning to use word endings (e.g. going, cats)

Uses language as a powerful means of widening

contacts, sharing feelings, experiences and thoughts.

Holds a conversation, jumping from topic to topic.

Enjoys being with and talking to adults and other

children.

Interested in others’ play and will join in.

Responds to the feelings of others.

30-50

months

Listens to others in one to one or small groups,

when conversation interests them. Listens to stories with increasing attention and

recall.

Joins in with repeated refrains and anticipates key

events and phrases in rhymes and stories.

Focusing attention – still listen or do, but can shift

own attention.

Is able to follow directions (if not intently focused

on own choice of activity).

Understands use of objects (e.g. "What

do we use to cut things?’) Shows understanding of prepositions

such as 'under', 'on top', 'behind' by

carrying out an action or selecting

correct picture.

Beginning to understand ‘why’ and

‘how’ questions.

Beginning to use more complex sentences to link

thoughts (e.g. using and, because). Can retell a simple past event in correct order (e.g.

went down slide, hurt finger).

Uses talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening

and anticipate what might happen next, recall and

relive past experiences.

Questions why things happen and gives explanations.

Asks e.g. who, what, when, how.

Uses a range of tenses (e.g. play, playing, will play,

played)

Beginning to accept the needs of others, with

support. Can initiate conversations.

Shows confidence in linking up with others for

support and guidance.

Talks freely about their home and community.

Forms friendships with other children.

40-60+

months

Sustains attentive listening, responding to what they

have heard with relevant comments, questions or actions.

Maintains attention, concentrates and sits quietly

when appropriate.

Two-channelled attention – can listen and do for

short span.

Integrated attention – can listen and do in range of

situations with range of people; varies according to

the demands of the task.

Understands humour, e.g. nonsense

rhymes, jokes. Demonstrates understanding of

“how?” and “why?” questions by

giving explanations.

Able to follow a story without pictures

or props.

Understands instructions containing

sequencing words; first…after…last,

and more abstract concepts – long,

short, tall, hard soft, rough.

Extends vocabulary, especially by grouping and

naming, exploring the meaning and sounds of new words.

Links statements and sticks to a main theme or

intention.

Uses language to imagine and recreate roles and

experiences in play situations.

Uses talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking,

ideas, feelings and events.

Introduces a storyline or narrative into their play.

Has confidence to speak to others about their own

wants, interests and opinions. Initiates conversation, attends to and takes account

of what others say.

Explains own knowledge and understanding, and

asks appropriate questions of others.

Shows awareness of the listener when speaking.

Expresses needs / feelings in appropriate ways.

Forms good relationships with adults and peers.

Works as part of a group or class, taking turns

20

Guidance on typical development of speech sounds Stage Speech sounds

(Developing speech and being understood applies to all

languages. Order of acquiring specific sounds – here in English –

may vary with other languages)

0-11

months

Babbles using a range of sound combinations, with changes in

pitch, rhythm and loudness.

Babbles with intonation and rhythm of home language (‘jargon’).

8-20

months

Speech consists of a combination of ‘jargon’ and some real words

and may be difficult to understand.

16-26

months

Many immature speech patterns, so speech may not be clear.

May leave out last sounds or substitute sounds (e.g. ‘tap’ for

‘cap’).

Uses most vowels, and m,p,b,n,t,d,w,h

22-36

months

Speech becoming clearer, and usually understood by others by 36

months although some immature speech patterns still evident.

May still substitute sounds or leave out last sound.

Emerging sounds including k,g,f,s,z,l,y.

30-50

months

Speech mostly can be understood by others even in connected

speech.

Emerging use of ng, sh, ch, j, v, th, r – may be inconsistent.

Sound clusters emerging (e.g. pl in play, sm in smile) though

some may be simplified (e.g. ‘gween’ for ‘green’).

40-60+

months

Overall fully intelligible to others.

May be still developing r and th.

May simplify complex clusters (e.g. skr, str).

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Evidence record of speech, language and communication development

Evidence could be parents comments, reference to observations, portfolios, other professionals reports/recordings etc.

Listening and Attention Understanding

(Receptive Language) Talking (Expressive Language)

Social Communication

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

Autumn Term

Evidence: Evidence: Evidence: Evidence:

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

Spring Term


At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

At risk of

delay

As

expected Ahead

22

Summer Term


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