Elcies-Milestones-4-5 Years - Speech and Developmental Milestones Fact Sheet

Sep 28, 2026

Speech and developmental milestones fact sheet outlining what children typically achieve at around ages 4 to 5. It covers language skills such as comparative and superlative understanding, time and spatial concepts, descriptive vocabulary, and question types, plus expected expressive vocabulary sizes at key ages (about 48, 54, and 60 months). It also details speech sound production, cluster milestones, intelligibility expectations, and early literacy skills like story sequence and print awareness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Language skills

Speech skills

Literacy skills

Play, interaction, and social skills

Please note: This advice is general in nature-every child is unique and will develop at their own pace. However, if you are concerned or have questions, we advise you contact a professional for support. You can contact our Speech Pathology team at 1800 352 437. LANGUAGE SKILLS: Understands comparative and superlative adjectives, such as big, bigger, biggest Understands time concepts eg. yesterday, today, tomorrow, first, then, next, days of the week, last week, next week Understand and use spatial concepts (e.g., nearest, through) Understand and use descriptive concepts (e.g.,‘thin’,‘whole’) to describe objects or quantities Identifies positional concepts: first, middle, last Answers ‘when’ questions Answers ‘how many’ questions (where the answer does not exceed four) Asks the following types of questions using correct grammatical structure: Early Infinitive-‘Do you want to...?’ Future: ‘Are we going to...?’Modal (can/may) - ‘Can you...?’ At around 48 months, children should have approximately 1,600 words in their expressive vocabulary At around 54 months, children should have approximately 1,900 words in their expressive vocabulary At around 60 months, children should have approximately 2,200-2,500 words in their expressive vocabulary. SPEECH SKILLS: Child can say the following sounds: p, b, m, d, n, h, t, k, g, w, f, ng, y, l, j, ch, sh, s, z, v Child can say the following clusters: tw, kw, pl, bl, lw (by 4 years of age) and gl, fl, sp, st, sk, sw, kr (by 4 years and 6 months of age) At approximately 48 months, child’s speech should be 95% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners in conversations (ie. friends, people whom the child does not see frequently, new communication partners) . LITERACY SKILLS: Understands story sequence Understands the function and purpose of print Knows many letter names Uses more letter-like forms than scribbles. 1800 352 437 [hello@elcies.org.au](hello@elcies.org.au)[ ](hello@elcies.org.au)@elciesSA [elcies.org.au](elcies.org.au) 4-5 years fact sheet Speech&developmental milestones These speech and developmental milestones reflect what children are typically achieving around the ages of 4 to 5. Need some professional advice? Our Elcies Speech Pathology team are here to help. Get in touch today! Follows three-step directions without cues Uses direct requests with justification (e.g.,‘Stop that. You’re hurting me.’) Uses words to invite others to play Uses language to resolve disputes with peers Plays competitive exercise games Has good control of the elements of conversation Speaks of imaginary conditions, such as ‘What if...’ or‘I hope...’ PLAY/INTERACTION/SOCIAL SKILLS

FAQs

What language concepts should children typically understand at 4 to 5 years?

They should understand comparative and superlative adjectives (bigger, biggest), time concepts (yesterday, today, tomorrow), spatial concepts (nearest, through), descriptive concepts (thin, whole), and positional concepts (first, middle, last). They should also answer when questions and how many questions where the answer does not exceed four.

How many words should a child have in their expressive vocabulary around these ages?

Around 48 months, children should have approximately 1,600 words. Around 54 months, they should have approximately 1,900 words, and around 60 months they should have approximately 2,200 to 2,500 words.

What speech sound and intelligibility milestones are expected by around 4 to 5 years?

Children should be able to say a listed set of sounds and clusters, including specific clusters by about 4 years and 4 years 6 months. By approximately 48 months, speech should be about 95% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners in conversations with new communication partners.

Sep 28, 2026

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