A child with language problems or expressive language disorder or delay may present with normal speech skills, but the language they use will be equivalent to that of a younger child. For instance, they may be using one or two word sentences, rather than longer more fluent sentences when compared with others their own age. Some children have a speech delay as well as a language delay, and some children's sentences make no sense and may even contain their own made up words (jargon).

An expressive language disorder or delay can present with a number of different problems such as problems with the use of appropriate grammar and syntax, word finding difficulties, or the understanding and use of concepts and attributes. See the "Milestones " section in Normal Development to get an idea how many words your child should be using at a certain age. A good way to enhance expressive language is just to play with your child and feed language into the play. Let the child lead the play and do not feel you have to get them to talk or fill in the silences, just expand on their language. If you suspect your child may have language difficulties contact your local qualified speech and language therapist / pathologist about the possibility of language assessment and speech and language therapy.

Milestones for expressive language

The development of a child’s communication skills vary enormously. Some children will develop certain skills quicker than others, and some children will vary significantly in the development of certain skills compared to their peers, even if there are no related problems. The table below is just a guideline and many experts vary considerably on what they believe to be the normal stages of development. You will see that many skills mentioned in the table below are repeated over several age groups as children are all different and some take longer to develop these abilities. So just use this chart as a very general guideline rather than read too much into it. There also may be some difference between boys and girls and when they develop certain skills.

To try and make this chart easier to read I have created a fictitious child called Bill. Bill was lucky, he had a childhood free of any illness or accidents and he had pro-active parents who played with him and gave him lots of quality 1:1 attention.

Expressive language development

0 – 12 months

Birth - 3 months - Intentional communication. Bill’s first intentional communication will be to vocalize for needs and wants, this is generally to express hunger and anger through crying.

4 - 6 months – Responding. Bill begins to respond more after 3 months with vocalisations to express pleasure and he may vocalize in response to singing.

6 - 10 months – Babbling. Bill develops babble over this period and it becomes more complex over time combining a few different consonants and CV (consonant-vowel) syllables. Bill may respond with babble when spoken to.

10 - 12 months - Jargon. Bill uses jargon containing long chains of babbled sounds and it starts to sound more like speech, but usually without recognisable words. Along with this, the chains of babble will contain different levels intensity intonation and pitch. He may occasionally vocalizes to greet an adult and begin to use some gesture with language e.g. shaking head for “no”.

12 - 18 months

Bill is now using a combination of gesture and words / vocalisations to request things (e.g. pointing and asking for “more”). At this point, the inventory of recognisable words is very small and it is likely that his understanding of words far exceeds his use of words. Bill may be able to imitate some words, but be unaware of their meaning. The mixture of verbalisation / vocalisation and gesture allows him to express emotions and communicate needs, wants and greetings. Although Bill’s expressive language will be limited it is only part of a much bigger picture of communication which is developing. He is understanding more words, learning social skills such as turn-taking, will be developing prosodic features (intonation, rhythm) in speech, and using gesture and facial expression.

18 - 24 months

Bill's use of a few single words (nouns) is at around 10 – 20 during this period, with the occasional simple 2-word combination developing. He begins to understand that everything has a name and may try and request an object by name. Bill can produce some animal sounds, refer to himself by name and says “no”. He is using words now more often than gesture, but has learnt to shake and nod his head for yes /no.

24 - 30 months

As the growth in single words increases Bill starts to use a lot more 2-word combinations. He begins to use verbs, uses some personal pronouns "me/you" and the possessive pronoun "mine", and begins to use his own name to talk about himself. He can now answer who/what questions and uses negation “don’t / no”. Bill imitates new words that others say and uses words in creative ways (e.g., a stick thrown into the sky becomes a bird).

30 - 36 months

Bill is now using around 450 words and combining nouns, verbs, and adjectives "big / little" and in 3 word sentences. He regularly uses prepositions "in/on/under", personal pronouns "you / me / he / she / they / we" and knows gender vocabulary. Bill is also beginning to form plurals and putting -ing endings on verbs. Now that Bill can put more words together he is asking more questions. He is able to recite common nursery rhymes, name 3 or more colours and can give his first and last name.

36 - 48 months

Bill is now easily using 4 – 5 word sentences and using words to relate observations, ideas and relationships. His vocabulary is expanding to 900 words by age 4 and he is holding conversations using many correct grammatical structures (plurals, possession, pronouns, prepositions and adjectives). Bill has also starting using “when” and “how” in questions, as well as “so” and “because”. He is able to describe things more accurately and can tell you what certain objects are used for. Bill is also be able to answer simple problem solving questions.

48 - 60 months

Bill is using up to 1500 words and his utterances are longer and more complex, containing more complicated syntax and concepts (see Morphology and Syntax in the Milestones section). Bill uses past tense correctly and adjectives, pronouns and prepositions are all part of his everyday language. His use of plurals are consistent, both irregular and regular.

60 – 72 months

Bill is using 2000 words with an average sentence length of 5 -6 words. His grammar is now complex and he speaks fluently. His vocabulary will also continue to grow at a fast rate as he is now attending school. Bill will continue to learn new words (especially in the next few years of his life) and the complexity and content of his sentences will continue to increase through till adulthood.

72 months +

Bill’s vocabulary continues to grow and he is able to converse and argue his point of view.