Before typically developing children can be expected to use words at around 1 year of age, they first need to have pre-linguistic skills mastered. These include:

• joint attention

• turn-taking

• play skills

• imitation

• understanding of language.

Speech clarity refers to how clear the words are that your child uses.

Some speech errors are typical but usually disappear at a certain age. Refer to our blog post on average age of speech sound acquisition to find out more about this.

Some speech errors are not considered typical which means they are unlikely to resolve on their own.

Expressive language refers to the words your child puts together to form sentence.

By the age of 1, most children will be able to use a few single words to communicate their wants and needs eg “more” “mama” “dada” etc

By 18 months, most children will be using 6-20 recognisable words.

By 2 years of age, most children will be using 50+ recognisable words and start putting 2 words together eg “more food”, “want mama”

By 3 years of age, most children will have a large vocabulary and put several words together but with simplified grammar.

By 4 years of age, speech is mostly grammatically correct.

Receptive language refers to your child’s understanding of language. That is, the words and sentences spoken to them.

By the age of 1, most children will understand more words than the few they use.

By 18 months, most children will understand more than 20 words.

By 2 years of age, most children will understand more than 50 words.

By 3 years of age, most children will have a large vocabulary and understand most commonly used words.

Stuttering is when your child gets “stuck” on words which impacts the message they’re trying to communicate. Stuttering can look different for every child but you may be noticing:

• repetitions of sounds (eg f-f-f-food)

• repetitions of words (eg I’m going, going, going to the pool)

• repetitions of phrases (eg I’m going, i’m going, to the pool)

• blocks (ie a pause when they are trying to get a word out)

• prolongations (eg I’m gooooing to the pool.)

You may also observe secondary behaviours resulting in tension in the face/neck, clenched fists etc.

Literacy skills refer to reading and writing. These skills usually don’t fully develop until your child starts school. You could expect your child to learn at a similar level to their same-aged peers.

Most typically developing children will learn how to make and keep friendships, resolve conflicts at an age-appropriate level and understand that others think differently to how they think.

These skills may have to be explicitly taught for some older neurodivergent children/teens who have difficulty understanding social norms and would benefit from a greater understanding of the social “rules” neurotypical children/teens are using in their social interactions.

If your child is having difficulty communicating their wants, needs and thoughts at any age, you’ve come to the right place!

Even if you’re not sure what your child’s main communication difficulties are, that’s fine, send us a message here and we’ll work out the best way to help them together!