Speech Vocabulary Development

Speech and Language Pathologist

 



 

Speech Vocabulary Development Chart

Speech & Language Pathologist

Wendi Kytola, MS CCC-SLP

Wendi Kytola

 

 

Speech and Language Department Location:

Davis Elementary School
31 SE Ash Ave
College Place, WA 99324
509-525-5110 ext 136
Room 25

Schools Served:

Davis Elementary
31 SE Ash Ave
College Place, WA 99324
509.525.5110 ext 136
Room 25

Meadow Brook Intermediate
509.522.3265

John Sager Middle School
Phone: 509.525.4827

Vocabulary Development

When teachers and speech-language pathologists talk about vocabulary, they are referring to the set of words that a child knows. Vocabulary can be split into two types: receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary.

A child’s receptive vocabulary consists of the words the child understands when he/she hears or reads them. A child’s expressive vocabulary consists of the words the child uses when he/she speaks. The chart below shows typical vocabulary development across several ages. Notice how quickly vocabulary grows over the first six years of life.

Age (in years) Vocabulary
1 to 1 ½ Toddlers develop around a 20-word vocabulary during this time.
2 By the time a child is 2 years old, he/she will have a 200–300-word vocabulary.
3 Vocabulary grows to be about 900–1,000 words by the time a child is 3 years old.
4 The typical 4-year-old child will have about a 1,500–1,600-word vocabulary.
5 By the time a child reaches school age and heads to kindergarten, he/she will have between a 2,100- and 2,200-word vocabulary.
6 The 6-year-old child typically has a 2,600 word expressive vocabulary (words he or she says), and a receptive vocabulary (words he or she understands) of 20,000–24,000 words.
12 By the time a child is 12 years old, he/she will understand (have a receptive vocabulary) of about 50,000 words.

Speech & Language Pathology Assistant

Sheila Woelfle, SLPA

 

Sheila Woelfle

 

 

Is your child's development typical of other children his or her age? Check links below.

IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION MILESTONES

Ages and Stages
Devleopment Milestones
Birth to Five Years

Ages and Stages ... By Caroline Bowen

Vocabulary Development Chart

Helpful language based tasks