• Understand “who”, what”, “where” and “why” questions
• Create long sentences, using 5 to 8 words
• Talk about past events – trip to grandparents’ house, day at childcare
• Tell simple stories
• Show affection for favourite playmates
• Engage in multi-step pretend play – cooking a meal, repairing a car
• Be understood by most people outside of the family most of the time. Click here to learn more about speech and sound development
• Be aware of the function of print – in menus, lists, signs
• Have a beginning interest in, and awareness of, rhyming

What you can do to help:

• Give your child different materials to encourage drawing and scribbling, including chalk, pencils, crayons, markers, finger paints
• Use descriptive words such as colours and opposites (fast, slow, hard, soft) and action words (flying, splashing, running) as you speak with him/her
• Give extra time to share his/her ideas
• Give choices – about what foods to eat, toys to play with, clothes to wear
• Model correct sounds and grammar, but do not insist that your child imitate you. For example if he says “He wunned”, you could say “Yes, he ran.”
• Read books that are predictable and repetitive. Pause to give your child a chance to fill in words and phrases.
• Play and pretend with your child. Have fun and occasionally do something unpredictable to encourage them to comment.

If you think your child is not meeting the developmental milestones as expected don’t ‘wait and see’. Contact Us to make a referral for a speech and language assessment.

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