Uses a vocabulary of several hundred words.
Uses describing words, such as 'fast' and 'small'.
Combines 3 or more words into a sentence; for example, "what's daddy doing?".
Talks about things that are not present.
Understands instructions containing 3 keywords; for example, "get the spoon and the big cup".
Plays imaginative games such as pretending a block is a phone.
Takes an interest in other children's play and sometimes join in.
Takes an interest in playing with words; for example, rhyming words.
Is starting to recognise a few letters.
Is understood by unfamiliar adults most of the time; for example, the librarian or relatives they don't see often.
If you would like to look at anything in more detail, this list of references [1] might be a good starting point.
The content on this page has been produced in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and adapted from Much more than words | Manuka takoto, kawea ake (2014) [2].
This page last reviewed 08 December 2023.
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Links
[1] https://kidshealth.org.nz/communication-development-references?language=zh-hans
[2] https://seonline.tki.org.nz/Educator-tools/Much-More-than-Words
[3] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1898?language=ton
[4] https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/contact-us/regional-ministry-contacts/
[5] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1584?language=ton
[6] https://kidshealth.org.nz/contact?from=http%3A%2F%2Fkidshealth.org.nz%2Fprint%2F1896%3Flanguage%3Dton