Language At Five: A Snapshot
What can you expect at five? Your child will be gaining confidence interacting with others out in the community and beginning to build lasting friendships with peers at kinder. More advanced skills like understanding letter-sound relationships and accurately retelling stories/experiences become more common. At 60 months your child will most likely have developed the following:
Receptive Language (Understanding)
Follow three-part instructions (e.g., "put on your socks on, then your shoes, and then go outside").
Understand time-related words like "before," "after," "now," and "later."
Grasp the meanings of many words
Understand instructions without needing to stop and listen.
Recognize some letters, sounds, and numbers.
Expressive Language (Using/Speaking)
Use well-formed sentences that others can understand. Sentences are longer and more complex.
Participate in longer conversations, taking turns.
Tell simple stories with a beginning, middle, and end.
Use past and future tenses correctly (e.g., had, will have).
Produce most speech sounds accurately. They may still struggle with sounds like s, r, l, and th.
Includes main characters, settings, and ideas when telling stories.
Uses irregular plural forms (e.g., mice)
Understands and uses locations (e.g., behind, beside, and between).
Follows simple rules to play games.
Locates the front of a book and its title.
Recognizes and names 10 or more letters and can write their name.
Knows to read and write from left to right.
Blends word parts (e.g., foot + ball = football).
Identifies some rhyming words (e.g. hot, pot)
Tips and Tricks
Engage in Conversations: Talk with your child regularly about their day and encourage detailed responses.
Keep teaching your child new words. Define words, and help your child understand them.
Teach your child to ask for help when they do not understand what a word means.
Have your child help you plan daily activities (e.g., make a shopping list, plan a visit to the beach)
Reading Stories Together: Read books daily, discussing the story and asking questions to enhance comprehension.
Let your child tell you how to do something. Draw a picture and write down your child’s story.
Get them to retell their favourite story.
Ask the question related to the book.
Ask them to predict what may happen on the next page.
Act out stories with figures and dress-up clothes.
Tell stories that are easy to follow.
Teach them the concepts of beginning, middle and end.
Help your child guess what will happen next in the story.
Practice Following Instructions: Give multi-step instructions during play and daily activities to improve listening skills.
Talk about where things are in space (e.g., first/last, up/down, right/left).
Talk about opposites (e.g., big/little, fast/slow)
Talk about categories and sort items by category.
Have your child tell you which item does not belong and why.
Play board games with your child. This will help them learn to take turns and talk about the game.
Positive Reinforcement: Praise your child’s efforts in communication to build their confidence.
Pay attention when your child speaks. Respond, praise, and encourage them when they talk.
Get their attention before you speak.
Pause after speaking, and let them respond to what you said.
Play games like “I Spy” to help them learn to listen and to talk about what they see.
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 5 years. (2024). Speech Pathology Australia. www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au. https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Public/Public/Comm-swallow/Speech-development/At-5-years.aspx
Communication Milestones: 4 to 5 Years. (2024). American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. https://www.asha.org/public/developmental-milestones/communication-milestones-4-to-5-years/
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