Parents are increasingly asking questions such as: “When should my child start talking?” and when she/he starts talking – “What sounds should my child pronounce correctly?” or “Is it too early to go to speech therapy?”

It is of the utmost importance that parents initiate speech-language stimulation of their kids on time and avoid missing the significant and sensitive period for speech and language development.

Late talking and delayed speech and language development affect further achievements of children (acquisition of school skills, emotional and social development…)

The phases of children’s speech development, the milestones that are expected and those that are not at a particular age, the appearance of the first words and sentences are all identified in the following standards that are set for a particular age.

Children aged 12- 18 months

• understand the meaning of „ come here“, „ bring me“, „let’s go“
• recognize identified objects and point to them (on request)
• show body parts on request
• denote particular body parts by using syllables
• have active vocabulary consisting of 6-8 words (Serbian: mama, baba, tata, papa … )
• use phrases consisting of two words (Serbian: daj to, mama ajde… (give me, go mum… )
• name some familiar objects spontaneously

The cases in which those speech activities are absent completely or partially can be considered as suspected cases of hearing impairment.

Children aged 18 months – 2 years

• react to the commands: „ Show me – a house, a man, a hat“
• can point to a doll’s eye, nose, mouth, hair, hand, leg
• understands commands (sit on the chair, bring your trainers)
• make sentences consisting of three words
• can name some ordinary objects, such as: a ball, a watch, a doll etc.
• can point to 7-10 denoted pictures
• pronounce simple phrases and sentences
• answer the questions “What’s your name?”, “How does a dog bark?”, “What does a cat say?”
• have vocabulary consisting of approximately 300 words
• like listening to stories and watching pictures
• can name some objects and ask for some object from the table
• can tell their names
• talk while playing
• can tell what they want
• listen to songs and stories willingly and attentively
• point their finger at what they want
• join the play with other children

Children aged 2 years

• follow simple instructions
• can name some objects
• make simple sentences
• use nouns and verbs
• answer the question “What’s your name?”
• express their wishes
• can listen to stories and watch pictures
• have vocabulary of approximately 300 words
• kick the ball if they are shown
• go downstairs when somebody holds their hand
• imitate circular movements with a pen

Children aged 3 years

• start using “I” as a personal pronoun
• can recognize what people are wearing, eating, drinking, etc. on a particular picture
• use fingers to show how old they are
• have the vocabulary between 500 and 1000 words
• use prepositions, adverbs and adjectives
• Pronounce correctly the following sounds: A, E, I, O, U, J, V, P, B, T, D, K, G, F, H, L, M, N, NJ
• Certain deviations are allowed with the following sounds: S, Z, C, Č, DŽ, Š, Ž, Ć, Đ, R, LJ (distortions and substitution LJ/L)
• hold a pen between the fingers
• imitate vertical and horizontal lines

Children aged 4 years

• can describe what is happening in three pictures
• perform two tasks simultaneously
• answer the questions: “What do you do when you are … hungry/sleepy/thirsty?
• count to 5
• have the vocabulary of approximately 1500 words
• use complete sentences
• speak intelligibly
• talk about themselves and other persons, events etc.
• talk about something that has recently happened in the correct sequence of events
• pronounce correctly the following sounds: A, E, I, O, U, J, V, P, B, T, D, K, G, F, H, S, Z, C, L, LJ, R, M, N, NJ
• Deviations may be expected with the following sounds: Č, DŽ, Š, Ž, Ć, Đ (distortions)
• play imaginary games
• follow stories and ask questions
• prefer using the dominant hand
• act cooperatively in playing with other children
• use creativity in making games

Children aged 5 years

• Speech is completely grammatical
• define simple words
• retell stories
• perform three tasks simultaneously
• use all the elements of speech correctly
• at the age of 5.5 years, they pronounce all the sounds correctly
• draw persons with more details
• draw circles, squares and triangles

Children aged 6 years

• Speech is completely grammatical
• define simple words
• use all the elements of speech correctly
• pronounce all the sounds correctly
• can recognize and complete the whole
• show their left and right side

Children aged 7 years

• can retell stories
• have mastered tenses completely
• develop analysis and synthesis of sounds (What is the first letter in the word “eye”; What do I say when I say S-A-T (Serbian: a watch)?
• can count from 1 to 20 and vice versa
• describe pictures by using more complex notions
• retell in a more detailed way
• have spatial and temporal orientation

Bibliography:

Golubović Slavica (2012) Razvojni jezički poremećaji – Beograd: Društvo defektologa Srbije

Sovilj M., Pantelić S., Punišić S., Đoković S. Ako ne govorim dobro, ako ne čujem dobro, ko sam? – Beograd: Institut za eksperimentalnu fonetiku i patologiju govora.

Mirjana Kosanović,

Speech and language therapist in  PI “Trešnjober”