Three year olds

Posted by Talking Matters on 21 October 2012

What speech and language skills should my three year old have?

Three year old’s are going through a rapid period of development in their communication skills. They move from combining words together to using “real” sentences and their speech becomes clearer so that unfamiliar people, not just Mum and Dad can understand them.

Three year olds should be able to understand the following:

Instructions with a couple of parts, such as get your shoes and put them by the door.
Concepts and a wider vocabulary including describing words such as position words: in, on, off, out, up, down, under, top; size concepts such as: big, little, small, long; number concepts such as: one, two, more; and describing words such as loud, quiet, heavy, soft, hard, fast, slow.
Function words: find me something to cut with, show me which one can fly.
What and where questions.
Negatives: no, not, don’t.

Three year olds should be able to do the following:

Make sentences of up to five words
Use early grammar words such as: he, she, is, a, the, and word endings: such as John’s, cats, running.
Name most common objects and actions.
Answer yes/no and what/where questions.
Tell their name, age and if they are a boy or girl.
Use a range of speech sounds in the beginning, middle and ends of words and speak clearly enough that most of what they say can be understood by an unfamiliar person.

If you are concerned that your child cannot do some of these things an assessment with a qualified speech pathologist can help by:

Telling you where your child’s development is compared with other children of the same age
Suggesting some strategies and activities to help your child develop any skills they may need to learn.
Letting you know if your child would benefit from some speech therapy
Advising you if there is anything else that should be checked such as hearing or general development.

Support in the preschool years can be helpful in preventing further difficulties later on which can impact on your child’s learning and literacy at school, so don’t hesitate to ask for help if you think your child needs it. For more information on assessments click here.

Here are some ideas to help your three year old develop speech and language skills in a fun way.

To develop your three year old’s understanding try to talk at a level just above the level your child uses themselves. If your child uses sentences of three to five words, make yours just a little longer. Introduce a new word now and then, repeating the new word or idea a number of times to help your child learn and remember. Use the new word in different settings so that your child develops a deeper understanding of the word. For example to teach your child “heavy’ you might talk about the washing basket being heavy, the shopping being heavy, picking them up and telling them they are getting heavier as they grow etc. Also contrast concepts with their opposite. Empty the washing basket then talk about how it is now light.

To develop your three year old’s use of language repeat back their sentences to them, now and then fixing up any mistakes. “I cutted it” “Yes, you cut it, well done”. This will help them gradually learn adult grammar and pronunciation. Gently emphasise your change but make sure you also sound interested and positive. Also add extra words and ideas to what your child says; “I found a sock” “You found a big, blue sock, lets find another one to match, let’s find another big, blue sock”. Most importantly listen to what your child has to say and make talking together a positive time for both of you.

Ideas for developing language skills:

Out and about. Obstacle courses and treasure hunts are free, lots of fun, can be done inside or out. They are a great way to develop your child’s ability to listen, follow instructions and learn position words such as in, on ,under, around, next to and through.

Craft. Craft activities are great for teaching concepts such as colour, size, shape, texture. Try painting and play dough to develop concepts and try collage for listening skills and following instructions.

Stories. Stories teach kids so much that they should be a part of every child’s daily routine. For three year old’s try stories with a simple series of actions to help them learn to link sentences and ideas together. Stories with rhythm and rhyme keep young children involved and lead to the development of early literacy skills. Help your child practice listening and answering what and where questions by finding things in the pictures.

Pretend play. Three year old’s love to pretend and to copy adults. Pretending allows children to learn and practice new words and communication skills and to use familiar ideas in new ways. A collection of toys for pretending such as tea or cooking sets, farm animals, dolls or teddies, cars or trucks are toys that your child will use over and over. The way your child uses them will change, grow and develop with your child so they are good value for money. You can also use things about the house to play shops, make cubbies, play puppets and play dress-ups for more pretending.

Helping around the house. Three year old’s love to help adults and if you can involve them in some of your daily activities you can help them learn action and function words at the same time. Talk about what you do and what they are doing. Get them involved; in sorting washing into big and little, counting and sorting colours as they hand you the pegs, learning new words as you put away the shopping. Get them involved in some gardening and cooking too!

We hope you and your three year old have lots of fun learning language together!

Three year olds

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