4 Year Old Speech Pathology Child Checklist

A 4 year old may need to see a speech pathologist if he/she:

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Is stuttering (repeating sounds or words or prolonging sounds)

Is not easily understood by unfamiliar listeners

Gets frustrated by not being understood

Is having difficulty with any sound except for r, l, th and v

Is not talking in complete sentences (including ‘little’ words such as ‘the’, ‘an’, ‘a’, ‘is’, ‘are’)

Is not using mostly adult-like grammar

Is not asking lots of questions

Is not answering ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘how many’ questions

Is getting pronouns mixed up (I, me, you, he, she, his, hers, him, her)

Is not telling stories you can easily follow (with a beginning, middle and end)

Is not using language to create imaginary play with others

Doesn’t pay attention to stories or cannot answer questions about stories

Has a limited vocabulary
(4 year olds typically have a vocabulary of around 2000 words, including verbs, nouns and adjectives)

Doesn’t use and understand time related words such as ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’

Is not engaging in appropriate social interactions with other kids