Around three to four-years-old your child will probably be asking lots of questions and be actively learning language. Your child will learn lots of new words by listening to you and other adults, as well as listening to stories. They will show more interest in communicating and might like to tell stories and have conversations. Your child will understand most of what you say and might guess the words he doesn’t know. Generally, they will understand many more words than they can say.
Around three, your child will say sentences with three to five words or even more. Other people will understand what they are saying most of the time. They will point to parts of pictures – for example, the nose of a cat – and name common objects. Visit I Can to learn more about what your child can say and understand at this stage and how to help their speech development.
Speak to your local Health Visiting Team or visit our special education needs and disability (SEND) section if you have any concerns regarding your child’s development or speech and language progression.
Useful resources
- To learn more about what your child can say and understand at this stage and how to support your child’s speech, visit I Can Ages and Stages or Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust’s speech and language section.
- BBC Tiny Happy People has fun activities you can do with your child to help them learn and encourage their speech and language development.
- You can find more support for a child with a stammer at The Pod.
- AFASIC supports parents and represents children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.
- Hungry Little Minds provides simple, fun activities for children from new born to five to support with your child’s development.
- The Institute for Health Visiting has useful resources for parents on Supporting your child’s speech, language and communication development.
- National Literacy Trust has resources and information for parents, early years settings and schools to promote language and literacy development.