If you’re an SLP treating pediatric language disorders, you’ve probably already realized how hard it is to to find a school-age language development chart.
This makes it really hard to determine what’s “normal” across the school-age years.
There really isn’t an easy answer to the “What language skills are expected at each grade level?” question.
That’s why I did an in-depth review of what we do know about school-age language developmental milestones in this article series.
Much of this information came from Marilyn Nippold’s text (2016), Later language development: School-age children, adolescents, and young adults
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the entire article series, here’s a quick snapshot and links to the articles.
Article 1: Language Development: An Ultimate Guide
I started the language development series with a discussion on the lack of information on school-age language developmental milestones.
Also I talked about why its important for those of us in the school-age to know how language develops from birth through Kindergarten-age. Then, I gave an overview of what key developments happen before children come to school.
Article 2: Common Core Standards, Special Education, and Language Development: Myths and Misconceptions
In this article, I talked about how curricular standards tie to normal language development; as well as how we can align with the curriculum when our students are functioning below grade level on key language skills.
Article 3: Morphological Development in the School-Age Years
Poor grammar is a huge problem for many students on our caseloads, so no discussion on language development would be complete without a discussion on morphology. When you read this article, you’ll learn the most important things you’ll need to know about morphological skills through the school-age.
Article 4: Vocabulary Development in the School-Age Years
Vocabulary is a mammoth because it’s such a massive area that can be hard to define. That’s why in this article, I outline some key vocabulary developments we can expect in the school-age years.
Article 5: Expressive Language Development: Here’s one skill you should be tracking
We can’t possibly cover the topic of vocabulary development in just one article, which is why I dive deeper in to one specific indicator of vocabulary and metalinguistic awareness in this article.
You’ll learn how this essential skill develops through the school-age years as children learn meanings of different types of words; such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Article 6: The Myths of Reading Levels
Since children’s language development is impacted by the language they see in texts, we need to understand what type of language they’re seeing in books across the school-age years.
But before we can get in to that topic, we need to first have a solid understanding of what goes in to determining a book’s “reading level”, as well as the strengths and weaknesses in methods currently used to determine what “level” is appropriate for a student to be reading.
Article 7: Text Language Across the School-Age Years
Now that we’ve covered what goes in to determining both a book’s and a student’s reading level, we can talk about the language of texts from Kindergarten through 12th grade.
When you read this article, you’ll learn some of the key developments so you can determine what skills are important to emphasize across the school-age years.
Article 8: Syntactic Development in the School-Age Years
We wrap up this series with an in-depth review of Walter Loban’s (1976) developmental study of language development from Kindergarten through 12th grade.
The results of Loban’s study uncovered some key syntactic developments throughout the school-age years that will help you determine what skills to emphasize with your students.
In my signature program, Language Therapy Advance, I help clinicians find the answers to these types of questions about language development, so they can leverage their expertise and gain more confidence in their clinical skills, and break through therapy plateaus (especially relating to spelling and grammar)…
I also go in to more details about how you can boost grammar, spelling, and literacy skills…as well as create high-impact language therapy systems.
I used to feel like I was banging my head against a concrete wall as I drilled the same old grammar flashcards over and over again. And I was clueless what to do about spelling.
But when I started truly studying how language works during my doctoral program, things all started to make sense.
In Language Therapy Advance, I aim to share those systems with SLPs like you, so you can make massive breakthroughs with your students, establish yourself as a trusted expert, and find more fulfillment in your career.
If you want to learn a tried-and-true system for remediating the root cause of processing issues, join the Language Therapy Advance waiting list to learn when course enrollment opens.
References
Nippold, M. A. (2016). Later language development: School-age children, adolescents, and young adults
