SPEECH LANGUAGE BENCHMARKS
Speech Skills by age 4-5:
Should produce: /t, d, n, m, p, b, h, w, k, g, f/
Language skills by age 4-5:
Sentence length- 4-5 words typical
Uses pronouns,
present progressive “ing”,
past progressive verbs “was”, “were”,
regular past tense “ed”
third person singular “s”
possessive “s”
regular plural “s”, “es”
negation- “not”
articles “a” and “the”
Can tell about the recent past, give plausible reasons to common problems, predict upcoming
events
Asks/answers simple “wh” questions
Knows some basic category names and members
Understands basic concepts (spatial, descriptive, quantity, time and sequence)
Can make inferences about everyday situations (i.e., what happens is you fall off your bike?)
Follow and complete simple step directions
State functions of common objects
Pragmatic Skills by age 4-5:
Takes turns both in activities and conversation
Some difficulty maintaining topic and attention for more that a few minutes
Maintains eye contact in conversational speech (i.e., looks at speaker when talking)
Can sequentially retell a short story
Has great difficulty understanding abstract/non-literal ideas or speech
Speech Skills by age 5-6:
Should produce: /t, d, n, m, p, b, h, w, k, g, f. y, ng, s, z, l, j, sh, ch, v/
Language skills by age 5-6:
Sentence length- + 5 words, complex sentences (uses “and”, “if”, “because”, etc)
Uses pronouns,
present progressive “ing”,
past progressive verbs “was”, “were”,
regular past tense “ed”
irregular past tense verbs
third person singular “s”
possessive “s”
regular plural “s”, “es”
negation-contractions, absence of double negatives
articles “a” and “the”
Can tell about the recent past, give plausible reasons to common problems, predict upcoming
events or results
Asks/answers “wh” questions
Knows basic category names and members
Understands basic concepts (spatial, descriptive, quantity, time and sequence)
Can make inferences about everyday situations (i.e., what happens is you fall off your bike?)
Follow and complete 1-2 step directions
Understand simple opposites
Can words define functionally
Pragmatic Skills by age 5-6:
Takes turns both in activities and conversation
Maintains topic effectively (10-20 exchanges about a topic typical)
Maintains eye contact in conversational speech (i.e., looks at speaker when talking)
Can sequentially retell a story
Has difficulty understanding abstract/non-literal ideas or speech
Speech Skills by age 6-7:
Should produce: /t, d, n, m, p, b, h, w, k, g, f. y, ng, s, z, l, j, sh, ch, v, r/ and blends
Language skills by age 6-7:
Sentence length- + 5 words, complex sentences (uses “and”, “if”, “because”, etc)
Uses pronouns,
present progressive “ing”,
past progressive verbs “was”, “were”,
regular past tense “ed”
irregular past tense verbs
third person singular “s”
possessive “s”
regular plural “s”, “es”
irregular plurals
negation-contractions, absence of double negatives
articles “a” and “the”
Can tell about the recent past, give plausible reasons to common problems, predict upcoming
events or results
Asks/answers “wh” questions
Knows many category names and members
Understands basic concepts (spatial, descriptive, quantity, time and sequence)
Can make inferences about everyday situations (i.e., what happens is you fall off your bike?)
Follow and complete 2-3 step directions
Understands and uses opposites and synonyms
Definitions are more than just stating function
Pragmatic Skills by age 6-7:
Takes turns both in activities and conversation
Maintains topic effectively
Maintains eye contact in conversational speech (i.e., looks at speaker when talking)
Can sequentially retell a story
Has difficulty understanding abstract/non-literal ideas or speech
Speech Skills by age 7-8:
Should produce: /t, d, n, m, p, b, h, w, k, g, f. y, ng, s, z, l, j, sh, ch, v, r, th, vowel r/ and blends
Language skills by age 7-8:
Sentence length- + 6 words, complex sentences (uses “and”, “if”, “because”, etc) common
Uses pronouns,
present progressive “ing”,
past progressive verbs “was”, “were”,
regular past tense “ed”
irregular past tense verbs
third person singular “s”
possessive “s”
regular plural “s”, “es”
irregular plurals
negation-contractions, absence of double negatives
articles “a” and “the”
Can tell about the recent past, give plausible reasons to common problems, predict upcoming
events or results
Asks/answers “wh” questions
Knows many category names and members
Understands basic concepts (spatial, descriptive, quantity, time and sequence)
Can make inferences about situations experienced or described
Follow and complete 3-4 step directions
Understands/uses opposites, synonyms, homonyms, multiple meanings
Give complete definitions (without using the word being defined in the definition)
Pragmatic Skills by age 7-8:
Takes turns both in activities and conversation
Maintains topic effectively (little reconstruction/repetition)
Maintains eye contact in conversational speech (i.e., looks at speaker when talking)
Can sequentially retell a story/event
Beginning to understand abstract/non-literal ideas or speech
Speech Skills above age of 8:
Should have no speech errors
Language skills above age of 8:
Sentence length- + 6 words, complex sentences (uses “and”, “if”, “because”, etc) common
Uses pronouns,
present progressive “ing”,
past progressive verbs “was”, “were”,
regular past tense “ed”
irregular past tense verbs
third person singular “s”
possessive “s”
regular plural “s”, “es”
irregular plurals
negation-contractions, absence of double negatives
articles “a” and “the”
Can tell about the past, give plausible reasons to problems, predict possible
outcomes/consequences
Asks/answers “wh” questions
Knows many category names and members
Understands basic concepts (spatial, descriptive, quantity, time and sequence)
Can make inferences about situations experienced or described
Follow and complete complex directions
Understands/uses opposites, synonyms, homonyms, multiple meanings
Give complete definitions (without using the word being defined in the definition)
Pragmatic Skills above the age of 8:
Takes turns both in activities and conversation
Maintains topic effectively (little reconstruction/repetition)
Maintains eye contact in conversational speech (i.e., looks at speaker when talking)
Can sequentially retell a story/event
Beginning to understand abstract/non-literal ideas or speech
Courtesy of Okirima-Tiluk