Grammar Development – what’s typical?

“Mommy me want a cookie.”  These preschool grammar errors are so cute and often encouraged in your child until that moment you realize your child might be too old to be talking like that!  Speech-Language Pathologists lean heavily on well-researched norms to determine what errors are normal and what errors are ready to be eliminated.  There are different expectations at each age, but by about age 6, most children should talk without grammar errors.

Here are some basic norms at each age:

Between ages 2 – 3 children should:

·         Use regular plurals (eg. ‘dogs’)

·         Use ‘ing’ endings when describing actions (eg. ‘jumping’)

·         Use personal pronouns like you, I and me correctly

·         Talk about the past using –ed endings (eg. We walked to school)

·         Add “articles” like ‘a’ and ‘the’ into sentences

·         Talk correctly about belongings (eg. ‘daddy’s shoes)

Between ages 3 – 4 children should:

·         Use gendered pronouns like he, she

·         Use ‘and’ to connect thoughts together

·         Use ‘is’ or its contracted version ‘s’ (eg. ‘she is eating’ or ‘she’s eating’)

·         Use negation like: not, isn’t, doesn’t (eg. I don’t like pizza)

Between ages 4 – 5 children should:

·         Use irregular plurals like ‘mice’, ‘teeth’, ‘fish’

·         Use comparison words like bigger, biggest

·         Use ‘because’ to connect thoughts (eg. “I hit my brother because he took my toy”)

·         Begin to learn irregular past tense verbs like ‘ate’, ‘ran’, ‘fell’ although these may not be mastered until after age 5

Do you have questions about your child’s grammar skills?  Book an in-person or virtual consultation with me through our online portal https://www.lethbridgetherapycentre.com/contact or send me an email with your questions to brie@lethbridgetherapycentre.com.

Brie Schindel

Registered Speech-Language Pathologist

Lethbridge Therapy Centre