<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May have poor attention and concentration</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, school</li><li>May have difficulties retelling events</li><li>Mayhave difficulties problem solving</li><li>May have difficulties expressing thoughts and ideas verbally and in written form</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li><li>May have difficulties with reading fluency and comprehension</li></ul>

If 7-8 Milestones not reached:

There are two main areas of language:&nbsp;<ul><li>Receptive language (understanding): Comprehension of language.&nbsp;</li><li>Expressive language (using language): The use of language through speech, sign or alternative forms of communication to communicate wants, needs, thoughts and ideas.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>

Areas of Language

<ul><li>Attends to sounds and voices</li><li>Recognises facial expressions and tones of voice</li><li>Babbling (e.g. ma-ma, da-da)</li><li>Takes turns vocalising with others</li><li>Recognises names of a few objects</li><li>IF MILESTONES NOT REACHED:</li><li>May have difficulties socialising with parents and joint attention</li><li>May affect muscle tone in the face as babbling helps to strengthen the muscles</li></ul>

6-12 Months

<ul><li>Follows the meaning of others’ conversations</li><li>Follows multi-step instructions</li><li>Vocabulary comprehension increases</li><li>Vocabulary comprehension increases</li><li>Uses more complex sentences</li><li>Uses imaginative language in play – likes to pretend and act out stories</li><li>Tells several attributes about an object</li><li>Irregular past tense – e.g. fell, broke, ate</li><li>Time: yesterday, tomorrow, morning, afternoon, later</li><li>Uses How and Where questions</li></ul>

5-6 Years

<ul><li>Ideas are shared</li><li>Follows multi-step instructions</li><li>Can classify objects according to more specific traits&nbsp;</li><li>Gives short oral reports</li><li>Uses language at a higher level to make jokes, tease, engage in sarcasm, argue point of view, explain complex situations, talk about movies or past events in detail</li></ul>

6-7 Years

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May have poor attention and concentration</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, school</li><li>May have difficulties retelling events</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing thoughts and ideas verbally and in written form</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li><li>May have difficulties with reading fluency and comprehension</li></ul>

If 6-7 Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Can listen for a sustained period of time (e.g. attend to a guest speaker at school)</li><li>No specific milestones</li><li>Can express their opinion</li><li>Can retell both imaginary and real events</li><li>Uses appropriate grammar in their speech and written work</li><li>Can problem solve</li><li>Will ask questions to clarify information</li></ul>

7-8 Years

<ul><li>Follows the meaning of others’ conversations</li><li>Continuing to expand</li><li>Can generally understand colour and shape words&nbsp;</li><li>Can sort objects into simple categories&nbsp;</li><li>Minimum of 4-5 word sentences</li><li>Talks about past and future events</li><li>Pronouns</li><li>Comparative –er and Superlative</li><li>Use of ‘is’ vs ‘are‘</li></ul>

4-5 Years

<ul><li>Past Tense “to be”</li><li>Connector ‘because</li><li>Adverb –ly</li><li>Irregular Plurals</li><li>Position: middle; around; away from; between; through; next to/beside; last</li><li>Size, tall, thin</li><li>Quantity:4; most; few</li><li>Position</li><li>Quantity: 5 (emerging); pair</li><li>Other: same; different (size); different (function)</li></ul>

4-5 Years P2

<ul><li>Develops written language skills and ability to write descriptive stories</li><li>Grammar is mature</li><li>Position: left; right</li><li>Other: same; different; season; time of day</li><li>Can understand the difference between reality and fantasy</li><li>Able to make predictions, justify decisions, provide solutions and give explanations</li></ul>

6-7 Years P2

<ul><li>IF MILESTONES NOT REACHED:</li><li>May have difficulties socialising with peers and joint attention</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by peers</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing wants, needs, thoughts and ideas</li></ul>

If 2-3y milestones not reached:

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising with peers</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, child care, kindergarten</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by peers</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing wants, needs, thoughts and ideas</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li></ul>

If 3-4 Year Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Follows 3 part instructions</li><li>Understands longer, more complex sentences</li><li>By 4 years uses nearly 1500 words</li><li>Minimum of 3-4 word sentences</li><li>Tells you what they are doing</li><li>Tells you the function or use of an object</li><li>Begins to talk about past events</li><li>Auxiliary ‘is’&nbsp;</li><li>Pronouns ‘he/she’</li><li>Connector ‘and’&nbsp;</li><li>3rd Person Singular&nbsp;</li><li>Contracted Negative&nbsp;</li><li>Contracted Copula</li><li>Past Participle</li><li>Position:bottom; behind; first; near</li><li>Size:short (length) – emerging; short (height)</li><li>Quantity:3; every; none</li><li>Other:hard; slow; light (weight); many colours</li><li>Understands Who questions</li><li>Asks What, Why, When and How questions</li></ul>

3-4 Years

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, kindergarten</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by peers</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing wants, needs, thoughts and ideas</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li></ul>

If 4-5 Year Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May have poor attention and concentration</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, school</li><li>May have difficulties retelling events</li><li>May have difficulties following routines</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing thoughts and ideas verbally and in written form</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li></ul>

If 5-6 Year Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Follows 2 part instructions</li><li>Points to main body parts, clothing items, toys and food when asked</li><li>Names actions</li><li>By 3 years uses 1000 words</li><li>Minimum of 2-3 words in a sentence&nbsp;</li><li>Still talks to self in long monologues</li><li>Talks about present events</li><li>Regular Plurals </li><li>Articles </li><li>Progressive –ing</li><li>Uses Pronouns </li><li>Regular Past Tense</li><li>Possessive ‘s </li><li>Position</li><li>Size</li><li>Quantity</li><li>Other: stop; go/start; loud; quiet; heavy; soft; fast; hot; cold</li><li>Understands and asks What and Where questions</li></ul>

2-3 Years

<ul><li>Responds to familiar requests (e.g. come here) and own name</li><li>Understands gestures (e.g. wave for ‘bye’)</li><li>Babbling (e.g. ma-ma, da-da)</li><li>Takes turns vocalising with others</li><li>Recognises names of a few objects</li><li>Can understand one key word in a sentence (e.g. Where’s your nose?)</li><li>By 2 years vocabulary is 250-300 words</li><li>IF MILESTONES NOT REACHED:</li><li>May have difficulties socialising with parents and joint attention</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li></ul>