Communication Milestones: 3 to 4 Years
Curious what communication milestones your little one should be reaching? While each child develops differently and at their own pace, be on the look out for these skills. If you have a concern regarding your child’s communication development, contact us today for a free screening and consultation in the home.
Compare things using words like bigger or shorter.
Tell you a story from a book or a video.
Understand and use more location words, like inside, on, and under.
Use words like a or the when talking, like a book or the dog.
Pretend to read alone or with others.
Recognize signs and logos like STOP.
Pretend to write or spell and can write some letters.
Correctly produce t, k, g, f, y, and –ing in words.
Say all the syllables in a word.
Say the sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of words.
By age 4 years, your child talks smoothly and does not repeat sounds, words, or phrases most of the time.
By age 4 years, your child speaks so that people can understand most of what they say. Child may make mistakes on sounds that are later to develop—like l, j, r, sh, ch, s, v, z, and th.
By age 4 years, your child says all sounds in a consonant cluster containing two or more consonants in a row—like the tw in tweet or the –nd in sand. May not produce all sounds correctly—for example, spway for “spray.”
How can I support my child?
Make silly pictures! Cut out pictures from old magazines and glue parts of different pictures together. For example, cut out a baby and a car. Glue the baby into the car as the driver. Help your child explain what is silly about the picture.
Practice learning categories! Sort pictures and objects into groups, like food, animals, or shapes. Ask your child to find the picture or object that does not belong. For example, a cup does not belong with the animals.
Read, sing, and talk about what you do and where you go to help your child learn new words and sentences.
Story time: Read books with a simple story and talk about the story with your child. Practice telling the story in their words or act it out with props and dress-up clothes.
Look at family pictures and have your child tell a story about the picture.
Help your child understand by asking them questions. Have them try to fool you with their own questions. Make this a game by pretending that some of their questions fool you.
Act out daily activities, like cooking food or going to the doctor. Use dress-up and role-playing to help your child understand how others talk and act. This will help your child learn social skills and how to tell stories.
Talk to your child in the languages you are most comfortable using. From time to time, your child might use words from their languages in the same sentence or conversation. Don’t worry; this is a normal part of becoming multilingual.
Source: ASHA Communication Milestones 2023
