Speech and Language Milestones for Children (5 Years and up)

A five year old typically marks a notable transition from little kid to big kid. There are three areas in particular where a child’s speech and language skills should be growing around age 5:

• Articulation (speech) skills
• Language abilities
• Social language, also called pragmatic skills

Let’s take a closer look at these developmental milestones for 5-year-olds: what to expect, what parents should look for, and what to do if your child doesn’t seem to be on track.

Speech milestones for 5-year-olds

While it can be adorable when small children mispronounce words, they should be able to pronounce most sounds correctly by the age of 5, even the trickier sounds like /l/, /s/, /r/, and /th/.  How can you help your 5-year-old with their speech? If you’re noticing any errors in their speech, make an appointment with a speech therapist. The speech therapist can evaluate your child and make treatment recommendations. Early Intervention is critical so don’t wait!

Language milestones for 5-year-olds

The bulk of language development happens during a child’s first 3 years of life. In this time span, they go from not talking at all to using phrases and sentences. When a child is 5 years old, there is still an amazing amount of growth happening, but you’ll notice it in more specific skills.

• Storytelling - One of the major skills a 5-year-old should have is to be able to tell a short story. This may be something they make up, or a story about their day. Sequencing is a big component of storytelling. 
• Sentence structure - Five-year-olds should be able to use compound and complex sentences easily. At 5 years old, your child’s vocabulary usage should also be improving. 
• Reading comprehension - After reading a book together, a five year old should be able to answer most questions about a story read to them and summarize what it was about.
• Rhyming - The ability to understand rhyming words is essential for kids building their phonological awareness skills–the awareness of the sounds that make up words. Phonological awareness is extremely important for early literacy skills.

Social language milestones for 5-year-olds

Five-year-olds should begin to show maturity in their social communication skills, or pragmatic skills.

• They should be able to speak to a variety of people, whether other children or adults.
• A five year old should be able to initiate and maintain a topic. 
• They should be able to ask/answer questions and make relevant comments. 
• Uses indirect requests; correctly uses deictic terms (e.g., this, that, here, there)
• Uses twice as many effective utterances as 3-year-olds to discuss emotions and feelings
• Uses narrative development characterized by unfocused chains—stories have a sequence of events but no central character or theme
• Develops basic understanding of theory of mind, including judgment that another person may have a belief that differs from the truth
• Shifts topics rapidly
• Shows fantasy schemes in play
• Understands that beliefs can result in predictable emotions
• Understands that someone may feel the same way when experiencing a similar event
• Uses comissives/promises

What if your child isn’t meeting 5-year-old milestones?

If you notice that your 5-year-old is lacking some of these skills, contact your pediatrician. In many cases, your pediatrician will need to write a referral for speech therapy in order for health insurance to cover it. Your child’s doctor may also be able to recommend specific speech therapy providers.

If you have questions and want to go right to the source, reach out to a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP), also known as a speech therapist. They will be more than happy to answer your questions! Speech therapists are certified and licensed specialists in communication and are the most qualified professionals to address these specific developmental milestones and skills. 

If you’re concerned that your child isn’t meeting their speech and language milestones, schedule an assessment now