Language At Four: A Snapshot
Your child will have expanded their conversational horizons by this point in their language journey. Daycare and kinder have let them experience socialising with peers and learning in different language environments like the classroom. By 48 months of age, you should notice the following from your kid:
Receptive Language (Understanding)
Understand most questions about daily tasks and stories they've heard.
Follow more complex instructions involving multiple steps.
Recognize some numbers and show awareness of phonetic similarities (e.g., words that start or end with the same sound)
Understand more prepositions (location/direction words), like in, on, and under.
Recognizes signs and logos like STOP/GO.
Expressive Language (Using/Speaking)
Use sentences with four to five words, including complex structures with conjunctions like "and," "but," and "because."
Describe recent events, such as what they did in the morning.
Ask many questions, often using "why" and "how."
Use personal pronouns (he, she, me, you) and negations (don't, can't).
Count up to five and name several colours.
Compares things (e.g. bigger/shorter).
Tell you a story from a book.
Uses words like a/the when talking (e.g., the cat).
Pretends to read alone (or with others) or write/spell. Can write some letters.
Says all the syllables (‘drum beats’) in a word.
Talks smoothly. Does not repeat sounds, words, or phrases mostly.
Speaks so that people can understand most of what they say.
May make mistakes on sounds that are later to develop, which are known as the late eight (“sh” as in 'sheep', s, “th” as in 'think', “th” as in 'that', r, z, l as in 'light', “zh” as in 'measure').
Says all sounds in a consonant cluster containing two consonants in a row (e.g., play). They may not produce all triple consonant clusters correctly (e.g., string).
Tips and Tricks
Interactive Reading: Read books together, asking questions about the story and discussing the pictures. This helps with comprehension and vocabulary.
Read, sing, and talk about what you read.
Use rhyming words. This will help your child learn new words and sentences.
Read books with a simple story.
Talk about the story. Help them retell/act out the story with props.
Tell them your favourite part/ask for their favourite part.
Play-based Learning: Use playtime to introduce new concepts and words. Games that involve following directions can be very beneficial.
Cut out pictures from old magazines.
Make silly pictures by gluing parts of different pictures together.
Act out daily activities (e.g. going to the doctor). This will help them learn social skills and roles.
Encourage Conversations: Engage your child in conversations about their day, encouraging them to use full sentences and describe their experiences.
Sort pictures and objects into categories.
Find the picture or object that does not ‘belong’.
Help your child understand by asking them questions.
Have them try to fool you with their own questions and pretend that some of their questions fool you.
Patience and Support: Give your child time to express themselves and acknowledge their efforts to build confidence and communication skills.
Look at family pictures.
Have your child tell a story about their day at daycare/kinder.
Please note the above information is general in nature and is not intended as professional medical advice. Please seek an appointment with a registered speech-language pathologist if you are at all worried about your child's development.
References:
At 4 years. (2024). Speech Pathology Australia. www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au. https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Public/Public/Comm-swallow/Speech-development/At-4-years.aspx
Communication Milestones: 3 to 4 Years. (2024). American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. https://www.asha.org/public/developmental-milestones/communication-milestones-3-to-4-years/
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