What are some important milestones for Preschoolers (3–5 Years)?
With sometimes conflicting information available to parents online, or through friends or family, it can be difficult to know the communication milestones 3–5. It’s important to have a good understanding of preschool speech development so that you can seek the advice of a speech pathologist if your child isn’t meeting their milestones.
3 Years
By three years, children often:
Follow more complex instructions
Understand “who”, “what” and “where” questions
Use sentences of 4–5 words
Talk about past events
Ask lots of questions
Sort objects into categories
Understand concepts like “same” and “different”
Begin taking part in conversations
Say sounds p, b, m, n, t, d, h, k, g (as in ‘go’), w, ng, f, y
Children’s speech should be mostly understandable to familiar adults, even though some sound errors are still normal and expected as part of preschool speech development.
4 Years
By four years, children can usually:
Answer questions about familiar, everyday tasks and routines
Understand most wh-questions
Understand some numbers
Start to show awareness of sounds in words, for example, being able to say if two words start or end with the same sound
Start to create longer sentences, often through using connecting words like “but”, “because”, “and”
Describe familiar or recent events, particularly in their everyday routine, or tell you about something that’s happened at preschool
Ask lots of questions!
Use pronouns like she, he, me, you
Use words like “can’t” or “don’t”
Count to five and name everyday colours
Say sounds v, s, z, sh, ch, j, l
These skills are important indicators within the communication milestones 3–5 range.
5 Years
By five years, children can usually:
Start to follow instructions of up to three steps for familiar actions/items
Understand words related to time, like “before”, “now”, “later”
Start to recognise some letters, sounds and numbers
Be understood by unfamiliar listeners
Have conversations more like adults, with turn taking
Tell simple, short stories
Talk about the past and future using correct verbs (e.g. went, will go)
Say most speech sounds but still have some difficulty with r, s, th, l
If your child is having difficulty with any of these milestones in their age range, or you have any concerns about preschool speech development or the communication milestones 3–5, it’s important to seek professional advice. Kids Spot offers free phone consultations for any concerned parents.
