7-11 years

This is a guide to how children develop speech and language between 7 and 11 years.

Speech, language and communication development is a gradual process. Children develop skills at different rates, but beyond 8 years, usually children will:

• Use language to predict and draw conclusions.
• Use long and complex sentences.
• Understand other points of view and show that they agree or disagree.
• Understand comparative words e.g. ‘it was earlier than yesterday’.
• Keep a conversation going by giving reasons and explaining choices.
• Start conversations with adults and children they don’t know.
• Understand and use passive sentences e.g. “the thief is chased by the policeman”.