Milestones

* Can point to and identify colours: red, blue, yellow, green

* Listens to short, simple stories

* Pays attention to a story and answers simple questions about it

* Identifies triangles, circles and squares

* Identifies objects by their function “Which one is used to tell the time?”

* Identifies the different coins, able to point to 10 cent, 20 cent and 50 cent coins

* Understands “morning”, “afternoon”, “next”

* Follows 3 related instructions e.g. “get your colour pencils, draw a picture and give it to mummy”

* Has a sentence length of 4 to 8 words

* Names common animals

* Uses grammatically correct sentences

* Describes objects and events

* Talks about experiences at school, at friends’ homes, etc.

* Accurately relays a long story

* Answers complex 2-part questions

* Answers questions that require reasoning :”What do you do when you fall down?”

* Answers questions related to senses e.g. “What do you do with your eyes/nose/ears?”

* Answers questions logically e.g. “What do you do when you want to cross the road?”

Warning signs

* Does your child seem unable to follow directions?

* Does your child use incomplete sentences?

* Does your child stammer or stutter?

Activities to encourage your child’s language

* Help your child learn to sort objects and things into categories (e.g. animals, things you eat, things you wear, furniture)

* Teach your child how to use the telephone

* Let your child help you plan activities such as what you will do for his birthday party

* Let him tell and make up stories for you

* Talk to him about what interests him

* Teach him opposites like boy versus girl, heavy versus light

* Teach him to distinguish with differences, e.g. which one is bigger a dog or a mouse?

* Play activities to learn ‘right’ and ‘left’

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• Article Courtesy of Isabel Tan Cjinh Ping, Senior Speech Therapist
• Bachelor of Speech Pathology, University of Queensland, Australia (1999)
• Public Service Commission Scholarship Awardee 1995