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Speech / Language

Children 36-42 months (English speaking or Bilingual  Spanish/English) generally are able to do the following:

Receptive Language: 

  • Follows directions with prepositions
  • Points to at least 7 body parts
  • Responds with their name and age when asked
  • Shows understanding of part/whole relationship (e.g., fingers are part of a hand or a hand is part of an arm)
  • Shows understanding of simple descriptive concepts (big, little)
  • Shows understanding of “more”
  • Responds to concrete “wh questions” - who, what, where (pointing)

Expressive Language:

  • Uses simple 3-word utterances
  • Uses present progressive verb form (-ing)
  • Answers “what” and “where” questions 
  • Uses quantity concepts
  • Uses possessives (mine, yours, ____’s)
  • Uses gender and plural marking articles and reflexive verbs
  • Uses negative phrases containing “no”
  • Uses commands
  • Uses articles (the ___, an _____)

Speech Intelligibility: 

  • Typically developing English speaking children 36-42 months have mastered the following early developing sounds: /b/, /p/, /m/, /n/,/ h/, /w/, /d/. Between ages 2 years 11 months and 3 years 11  months they are mastering the following early developing sounds: /g/, /k/, /f/, /t/, /ng/, /y/

Typically developing Spanish speaking children 36-42 months are developing the following consonant sounds: /p/, /t/, /m/, /k/, /j/ (as in “yo”), /l/, /ch/, /ñ/