Language Development in Kids Ages 6-8

Understanding the level at which your child is using language is helpful in communicating with him and relating to his experience. Having a grasp of where your child should be in his language development will give you a better idea of what, if any, learning deficits may exist. Here are some language development features common to children ages six, seven and eight.

Age 6

At six years of age a child will have mastered the consonant sounds of f, v, sh, zh, th and will be comfortable with number concepts up to seven. All of his speech should be intelligible and socially useful. A seven year old should be able to tell an ordered, connected story about a picture, a place or an experience and see and describe the relationships between the objects and occurrences.

Age 7

By the age of seven a child should have mastery over the consonant sounds of t s-z, r, ch, wh, and the soft g. He should be comfortable with handling opposite analogies such as girl and boy, man and woman, sweet and sour, etc. and understands terms such as alike, different, beginning and end. A child of seven should be able to tell you the time of day to the quarter hour using a clock with hands and he should be able to read simple texts and write the alphabet and many useful words.

Age 8

By the age of eight, a child can relate more elaborate and involved accounts of events that occurred in the past. He can form complex and compound sentences much more easily and exhibit few if any lapses in grammar (such as choice of tense, pronouns and plurals). He should have full mastery of the entire range of speech sounds, including vowels, diphthongs and consonant blends. He should be able to read age appropriate texts with ease and begin to demonstrate competence with writing simple compositions. Most children this age will have acquired the various social amenities in common usage, such as 'please' and 'thank you' and will know when and where to use them. His control of pitch, rate of speed and volume should be well developed and he should have established a habitual knowledge of when and where to vary them. Eight year olds can carry on meaningful conversations with adult speakers and follow fairly complex instructions with little or no repetition.

Participating in your child's language development will help him to grow at a rate appropriate to his age. When a child understands the value of language for communicating ideas, asking questions and making observations, they're more likely to succeed in school, especially in such subjects as math and reading.