Speaking, reading, writing and creative thinking which is the fabric for your child to achieve their dreams.

Language and communication domain are skills that develop over time.  When you child is meeting this domain, they will have the prerequisites to speaking, reading, writing and creative thinking which can support them as an adult in achieving their dreams.  The child will have the ability to understand words and context (receptive language), body language, and spoken words to communicate his/her wants, needs and ideas (expressive language).

The chart below identifies several skills your child should demonstrate by age 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, 4 years old, and 5 years old for Language and Communication Growth:

 

Age	Language & Communication Skills
12 months (1 year)	Uses hand and body gestures to indicate “no” or greetings “hi” and “bye”
	Makes sounds and babbles with changes in tone and imitates speech
	Orally (expressive) says “mama”, “papa”, “dada”, “uh-oh!”
	Tries to repeat (echoics) what you are saying
	Responds to simple spoken requests (sit down, come here)

 

Age	Language & Communication Skills
24 months (2 years)	Orally (expressive) has 50 different words
	Orally (expressive) and shakes head “no” and “yes”
	Follows simple instructions
	Points and gestures to show someone what they want named/labeled
	Orally (expressive) sentences with 2 to 4 words
	Speaks clearly enough that parents can understand 50% of words
	Repeats (echoics) words overheard in a conversation
	Identifies names of familiar people and body parts (pointing or speaking)

 

 

Age	Language & Communication Skills
36 months (3 years)	Follows instruction (receptive) with 2 to 3 steps
	Can hold a conversation with 2 to 3 sentences
	Orally (expressive) their name, age, gender
	Begins to use pronouns (I, me, we, you)
	Understands (receptive) prepositions (in, over, under, on)
	Orally (expressive) and identifies (receptive) common objects
	Answers “where” questions
	Orally (expressive) has 450-word vocabulary

 

Age	Language & Communication Skills
4 Years	Continues to demonstrate prepositions correctly (i.e. he for boy; she for girl)
	Orally (expressive) states their first and last name
	Tells stories and sings songs/nursery rhymes from memory
	Orally (expressive) has 4-5 word sentences
	Orally (expressive) has nearly 1,000-word vocabulary
	Understands (receptive) time and opposites (yesterday, lunchtime, bedtime, tonight, little, big)
	Identifies and labels at least one color

 

Age	Language & Communication Skills
5 Years	Speaks clearly and most people understand
	Uses future tense (“We are going to the store”)
	Orally (verbalizes) full name and address
	Orally (verbalizes) about daily activities (food, money)
	Uses 4 to 5 word sentences
	Orally (expressive) has nearly 1,000-word vocabulary
	Asks many questions “who, what, why”