- Understands words for order, like first, next, and last.
- Understands words for time, like yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
- Follows longer directions, like "Put your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and then pick out a book."
- Follows classroom directions, like "Draw a circle on your paper around something you eat."
- Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school.
- Says all speech sounds in words. May make mistakes on sounds that are harder to say, like l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, th.
- Responds to "What did you say?"
- Talks without repeating sounds or words most of the time.
- Names letters and numbers.
- Uses sentences that have more than 1 action word, like jump, play, and get. May make some mistakes, like "Zach got 2 video games, but I got one."
- Tells a short story.
- Keeps a conversation going.
- Talks in different ways depending on the listener and place. May use short sentences with younger children or talk louder outside than inside.