Let’s Talk About Preschoolers! How speech and language develops from 3-4 years of age.

Just like toddlers, preschoolers continue to rapidly develop speech and language skills through their everyday environments.  Now, most toddlers attend preschool or daycare, which provides a very language rich environment to continue developing their communication skills.  Play, music, simple arts and crafts, and story time are frequent activities that preschoolers engage in; it is through these activities that their language comprehension and expression continue to grow!   

By now, most preschoolers understand words for some colors (red, blue, green) and some shapes (circle, square).  They may also understand words for family like grandmother, aunt and brother.  Vocabulary also continues to develop through themed preschool activities.  Here, preschoolers will begin to understand words related to the weather, seasons, animals, and transportation. 

Talking also continues to advance!  Preschoolers typically can answer simple Who/What/Where questions and use pronouns like I, me, we, they and you.  Plurals also start to develop, such as birds, toys and buses.  They may begin asking When and How questions.  Preschoolers also start to put together 4-word sentences such as “I goed to school”.  Grammatical errors are common at this age, and they will naturally correct themselves in due time! Preschoolers may talk about what happened during the day, using 4 sentences at a time.  Their speech sound development also continues to advance, thus making them easy to understand by most people.  

Here a few easy things parents and caregivers can do to provide a language rich environment to facilitate speech and language development for their preschoolers (Suggested by the American Speech & Hearing Association):

• Cut out pictures from old magazines. Make silly pictures by gluing parts of different pictures together. For example, cut out a dog and a car. Glue the dog into the car as the driver. Help your child explain what is silly about the picture.

• Sort pictures and objects into categories, like food, animals, or shapes. Ask your child to find the picture or object that does not belong. For example, a baby does not belong with the animals.

• Read, sing, and talk about what you do and where you go. Use rhyming words. This will help your child learn new words and sentences.

• Read books with a simple story. Talk about the story with your child. Help her retell the story, or act it out with props and dress-up clothes. Tell her your favorite part of the story. Ask for her favorite part.

• Look at family pictures. Have your child tell a story about the picture.

• Help your child understand by asking him questions. Have him try to fool you with his own questions. Make this a game by pretending that some of his 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 language you are most comfortable using.

Having an understanding of how speech and language develops in a child's early years will help parents and caregivers be aware if their child’s speech and language development is not up to expectations.  If a child is exhibiting delayed language development, concerned parents and caregivers may seek out a preschool speech and language evaluation through their local school district.  Speech-Language pathologists are fully equipped to assess a preschooler’s language development through standardized testing and by taking a “sample” of a preschooler’s language through play-based activities.  It is important that speech therapy start as early as possible so the child can catch up with his or her peers.  

Telemedicine speech therapy is an option for preschoolers to develop their language and speech sounds.  Play-based therapy and literature based therapy can easily happen through telehealth speech therapy.  A preschooler can read books online with the speech therapist and talk about the book or engage in a related activity about the book.  The preschooler may also play with toys that he or she may have at the table while conversing with the speech therapist through the screen.  If telehealth speech therapy is the only option, speech-language pathologists are excellent at creating engaging activities to facilitate language development!