Milestones

To determine the need for speech therapy and to create articulation goals, speech therapists assess a child’s speech production and records his/her errors at the word and sentence level. Depending on the types of errors, frequency of errors, and which sounds the child is having trouble with, a client may or may not qualify for therapy.

However, the speech development milestones are outdated and I am so pleased to report that a new research study has provided a MUCH NEEDED UPDATE!

In 2018, McLeod, S. & Crowe, K. completed a cross-linguistic review of 27 languages and the results of the study revealed some interesting findings!

This study shows that 75-85% of English-speaking children produce all consonants besides voiceless “th” by the age of 5. This has HUGE clinical implications such as:

  • 4-year-olds should work on /s/, /v/, and /l/!

  • 5-year-olds should work on any sound they can’t say correctly, even r!download (35)

Problems with past research

School therapists rarely work on /r/, /s/, /z/, and /l/ until first or second grade!!!! This has always bothered me. Clinically, I have been seeing a need to work on articulation sounds much earlier but there was no research to back up that idea.

When working in schools, preschool and kindergarten students with low intelligibility and many “later developing” sound errors, weren’t seen until first or second grade. Schools waited to see if they “outgrew it.” The reasoning behind this clinical decision was based on research from the 70s.

However, I noticed that none of these children “outgrew” their errors. Instead, they spent 2-3 more years saying their sounds incorrectly before therapy would begin. Then, therapy was “that much harder.” Also, these students ended up in therapy FOR YEARS.

Current Practices At Palm Beach Speech Teach

After reading this article, I instantly changed my practice policy.

I now target /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/, etc… with my 4 and 5-year-old clients, and low and behold, they master these sounds in months, yes months!!!! Not years!!!!

My child isn’t saying all the sounds listed by his/her age. What should I do?

If you are concerned about your child, I recommend that you:

  • reach out to your local school district

  • contact a local speech-language pathologist

  • schedule an appointment with us to discuss your concerns

SPEECH LANGUAGE MILESTONES (CDC recently updated 2022)

How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about your child’s development. Developmental milestones are things most children (75% or more) can do by a certain age.

Important Milestones: Your Child By Three Years

What most children do by this age:

Social/Emotional Milestones
  • Calms down within 10 minutes after you leave her, like at a childcare drop off
  • Notices other children and joins them to play
Language/Communication Milestones
  • Talks with you in conversation using at least two back-and-forth exchanges
  • Asks “who,” “what,” “where,” or “why” questions, like “Where is mommy/daddy?”
  • Says what action is happening in a picture or book when asked, like “running,” “eating,” or “playing”
  • Says first name, when asked
  • Talks well enough for others to understand, most of the time
Cognitive Milestones (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
  • Draws a circle, when you show him how
  • Avoids touching hot objects, like a stove, when you warn her
Movement/Physical Development Milestones
  • Strings items together, like large beads or macaroni
  • Puts on some clothes by himself, like loose pants or a jacket
  • Uses a fork

Important Milestones: Your Child By Four Years

What most children do by this age:

Social/Emotional Milestones
  • Pretends to be something else during play (teacher, superhero, dog)
  • Asks to go play with children if none are around, like “Can I play with Alex?”
  • Comforts others who are hurt or sad, like hugging a crying friend
  • Avoids danger, like not jumping from tall heights at the playground
  • Likes to be a “helper”
  • Changes behavior based on where she is (place of worship, library, playground)
Language/Communication Milestones
  • Says sentences with four or more words
  • Says some words from a song, story, or nursery rhyme
  • Talks about at least one thing that happened during his day, like “I played soccer.”
  • Answers simple questions like “What is a coat for?” or “What is a crayon for?”
Cognitive Milestones (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
  • Names a few colors of items
  • Tells what comes next in a well-known story
  • Draws a person with three or more body parts
Movement/Physical Development Milestones
  • Catches a large ball most of the time
  • Serves himself food or pours water, with adult supervision
  • Unbuttons some buttons
  • Holds crayon or pencil between fingers and thumb (not a fist)

Important Milestones: Your Child By Five Years

What most children do by this age:

Social/Emotional Milestones
  • Follows rules or takes turns when playing games with other children
  • Sings, dances, or acts for you
  • Does simple chores at home, like matching socks or clearing the table after eating
Language/Communication Milestones
  • Tells a story she heard or made up with at least two events. For example, a cat was stuck in a tree and a firefighter saved it
  • Answers simple questions about a book or story after you read or tell it to him
  • Keeps a conversation going with more than three back-and-forth exchanges
  • Uses or recognizes simple rhymes (bat-cat, ball-tall)
Cognitive Milestones (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
  • Counts to 10
  • Names some numbers between 1 and 5 when you point to them
  • Uses words about time, like “yesterday,” “tomorrow,” “morning,” or “night”
  • Pays attention for 5 to 10 minutes during activities. For example, during story time or making arts and crafts (screen time does not count)
  • Writes some letters in her name
  • Names some letters when you point to them
Movement/Physical Development Milestones
  • Buttons some buttons
  • Hops on one foot