Communication Milestones: Primary Age (ICAN)

Question 1

What are the milestones for ‘attention, listening and understanding’ for ages 4-5 years? x4

Answer 1

1. Knows to look at who’s talking and think about what they’re saying.
2. Listens to and understands instructions about what they are doing
3. Understands 2/3 part spoken
   instructions.
4. Can answer a ‘How’ or ‘Why’
   question.

Question 2

What are the milestones for ‘vocabulary’ for ages 4-5 years? x3

Answer 2

1. Understands a range of related
   words to describe concepts:
   e.g. soon, early and late.
2. Knows words can be put into
   groups and can give common
   examples in them:
   e.g. Animals: dog, cat, horse.
3. Uses words more specifically to
   make the meaning clearer:
   e.g. “I saw a funny monkey. It was a spider monkey.

Question 3

What are the milestones for ‘speech sounds, grammar and sentence building’ for ages 4-5 years? x3

Answer 3

1. Says words clearly although may struggle with a few complex speech sounds, consonant blends or words with lots of syllables:
   e.g. ‘Wabbit’ for ‘rabbit’, ‘sketti’ for ‘spaghetti.’
2. Uses well-formed sentences:
   e.g. “I played with Zoe in the park.”but with some errors e.g. “I falled down.”
3. Joins phrases with words e.g. if, because, so, could.

Question 4

What are the milestones for ‘verbal storytelling and narrative’ for ages 4-5 years? x3

Answer 4

1. Lists events with some detail:
   e.g. “I went nanny’s. I had fat chips for tea. I played games on the pooter.”
2. Retells favourite stories - using
   some of their own words e.g. “……and she said what a nice
   mouth you got and the wolf said, ‘I can eat you!’ Gulp!”
3. Describes events but not always
   joined together or in the right order e.g. “I went on the top of the bus with dad. That big slide is scary. We taked the ball as well.”

Question 5

What are the milestones for ‘conversations and social interactions’ for ages 4-5 years? x3

Answer 5

1. Confidently starts and takes
   part in individual and group
   conversations.
2. Joins in and organises co-operative role play with friends and can pretend to be someone else talking.
3. Uses language to ask, negotiate,
   give opinions and discuss ideas
   and feelings:
   e.g. Can I take teddy with me? He will be sad by himself.

Question 6

What are the milestones for ‘attention, listening and understanding’ for ages 5-7 years? x3

Answer 6

1. Starts to ignore unimportant information.
2. Is aware when a message is unclear and comments or asks for an explanation.
3. Understands complex 2/3 part instructions e.g. “Finish your picture from
   yesterday then with a partner,
   choose one of the topic books.

Question 7

What are the milestones for ‘vocabulary’ for ages 5-7 years? x3

Answer 7

1. Compares words, the way they
   look, sound or mean e.g. see and sea
2. Can guess the word from clues, or give others clues using shape, size, function, etc.
3. Uses newly learnt words in a
   specific and appropriate way:
   e.g. lots of lions together it is called a pride of lions.”

Question 8

What are the milestones for ‘speech sounds, grammar and sentence building’ for ages 5-7 years? x4

Answer 8

1. Speech is clear with occasional
   errors, especially with consonant blends.
2. Good knowledge of sounds in
   words.
3. Asks lots of questions to find out specific information including ‘How’ and ‘Why’.
4. Uses different ways to join phrases to help explain or justify an event e.g. “I’m older than you so I will go first.”

Question 9

What are the milestones for ‘verbal storytelling and narrative’ for ages 5-7 years? x3

Answer 9

1. Tells stories that set the scene,
   have a basic plot and a sequence of events.
2. Begins to be aware of what the
   listener already knows and checks e.g. “You know where I live, right?Well, in that big house by the
   shop…”
3. Accurately predicts what will
   happen in a story.

Question 10

What are the milestones for ‘conversations and social interactions’ for ages 5-7 years? x4

Answer 10

1. Takes turns to talk, listen, and
   respond in two-way conversations and groups.
2. Keeps to a topic but easily
   prompted to move on if it takes
   over.
3. Copies others’ language and
   begins to be aware of current peer language:
   e.g. Copies swear words, says,
   ‘Cool’, or ‘Yeah right.’
4. Uses and experiments with
   different styles of talking with
   different people.

Question 11

What are the milestones for ‘attention, listening and understanding’ for ages 7-9 years? x3

Answer 11

1. Listens to key information
   and makes relevant, related
   comments e.g. “So all mammals are warm blooded, have fur or hair and their babies all drink milk.”
2. Identifies clearly when they
   haven’t understood e.g. “What’s maize?
3. Able to infer meaning, reason and predict: e.g. “It’s getting very hot in here,” means open the window.

Question 12

What are the milestones for ‘vocabulary’ for ages 7-9 years? x3

Answer 12

1. Uses a range of words related to time and measurement e.g. century, calendar, breadth.
2. Uses a wide range of verbs to
   express their thoughts, or about cause and effect e.g. “I wonder what she’s thinking.”
3. Joins in discussions about an
   activity using topic vocabulary e.g. “I saw some chicken eggs
   hatching in the incubator on the
   farm last Friday.”

Question 13

What are the milestones for ‘speech sounds, grammar and sentence building’ for ages 7-9 years? x3

Answer 13

1. Speech is clear, uses words with
   three sounds together or words
   with lots of syllables.
2. Uses regular and unusual word
   endings e.g. walked or fell.
3. Uses complex grammar and
   sentences to clarify, summarise,
   explain and plan e.g. “So the bee collects the pollen from the stamen and then flies to another flower and pollinates it.”

Question 14

What are the milestones for ‘verbal storytelling and narrative’ for ages 7-9 years? x3

Answer 14

1. Stories have a good structure with a distinct plot, an exciting event, clear resolution and conclusion e.g. “…and everyone got home safely which was great.”
2. Uses intonation to make
   storytelling and reports exciting
   and interesting.
3. Adds detail or leaves information out according to how much is already known by the listener.

Question 15

What are the milestones for ‘conversations and social interaction’ for ages 7-9 years? x4

Answer 15

1. Uses formal language when
   appropriate in some familiar
   situations e.g. Showing a visitor around school.
2. Understands conversational rules e.g. Looks at listener to judge feedback. Gives more detail if needed.
3. Uses tone of voice, stress on words and gestures naturally to add meaning.
4. Uses language for full range of
   different reasons e.g. complimenting, criticising,
   negotiating.

Question 16

What are the milestones for ‘attention, listening and understanding’ for ages 9-11 years? x4

Answer 16

1. Sustains active listening to both
   what is said and the way it is said.
2. Follows longer instructions that
   are not familiar e.g. “Put the stripy folder that’s
   on top of the cupboard into the
   bottom drawer of my desk.”
3. Understands different question
   types e.g. open, closed, rhetorical.
4. Understands simple jokes and
   simple idioms, but can’t really
   explain why they are funny or
   what they mean: e.g. You can’t have your cake
   and eat it.

Question 17

What are the milestones for ‘vocabulary’ for ages 9-11 years? x3

Answer 17

1. Makes choices from a wide and
   varied vocabulary:
   e.g. ‘Leap’ instead of ‘jump’,
   ‘terrified’ instead of ‘frightened’.
2. Uses sophisticated words but the
   meaning might not always be
   accurate e.g. “My bedroom was meticulous.”
3. Knows that words can have
   two meanings and uses them
   appropriately. Can’t always explain
   how they are linked:
   e.g. ‘Hard’ (rigid object and tough
   person).

Question 18

What are the milestones for ‘speech sounds, grammar and sentence building’ for ages 9-11 years? x4

Answer 18

1. Uses long and complex sentence
   structures:
   e.g. “I will come with you only
   because it means you will stop
   going on at me.”
2. Uses questions to help
   conversations flow.
3. Sentences average about 7 to 10
   words - longer in stories than in
   conversation.
4. Knows when a sentence is not
   grammatically correct and can
   explain rules of grammar.

Question 19

What are the milestones for ‘verbal storytelling and narrative’ for ages 9-11 years? x4

Answer 19

1. Tells elaborate entertaining
   stories which are full of detailed
   descriptions.
2. Everyday language is detailed and
   not always about their immediate
   experience.
3. Incorporates a subplot in telling
   stories and recalling events, before
   resolving the main storyline.
4. Uses complex joining words:
   e.g. meanwhile, therefore

Question 20

What are the milestones for ‘conversations and social interactions’ for ages 9-11 years? x3

Answer 20

1. Uses different language
   depending on where they are, who
   they are with and what they are
   doing: e.g. Formal style with the
   headteacher in school; relaxed and
   informal with family at home; and
   ‘cool’ language with friends in the
   park.
2. Communicates successfully;
   shares ideas and information,
   gives and receives advice,
   and offers and takes notice of
   opinions.
3. Realises when people don’t fully
   understand and tries to help them.