Typical Development Through the Lens of a Therapist: 4-5 years old

Speech and Language:

Receptive Language

• Pays attention to short story and answers basic questions about it
• Understands complex questions (why, how)
• Understands spatial concepts such as “behind” and “next to”

Expressive Language:

• Uses 200-300 words
• Can describe how to do an activity
• Can define words
• Tells stories that stick to one topic
• Uses sentences that give lots of details

Articulation:

• Production of sounds becomes increasingly clear but..
• Child often makes mistakes pronouncing long, difficult, or complex words (e.g., hippotamus)

Play/ Social Development:

• Continued cooperative play
• Highly social, talkative, and versatile
• May play loosely organized group games (e.g., tag, duck-duck-goose)
• Range of emotions (aggression, jealousy, sadness) can be defiant

Occupational Therapy:

Fine/Visual Motor Skills:

• Uses a dynamic tripod grasp
• Cuts out simple shapes
• Begins to draw people (stick figures)
• Copies own name
• Strings large beads
• Folds paper with crease

Gross Motor Skills:

• Jumps down from high step
• Skips
• Walks up and down stairs reciprocally

Self-help Skills:

• Dresses self, including fasteners
• Complete toilet routine including hand washing

Cognition:

• Understands rules to play games
• Participates in planning group activity
• Beginning to abstract thought and reasoning to solve problems (executive functioning)