Speech and language goals for 4 and 5 year olds

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

Speech goals for 4 year olds usually target being understood, building full sentences, telling about events in order and keeping a conversation going. A strong goal names the activity, the target and a count from a play sample. For example: during play, the child will produce final consonants in words in 8 of 10 opportunities.

By age 4, most of a child's talk is about things, people and events that are not right in front of them. That is why the goals change. Requesting and single words give way to sentences, stories about the day and back-and-forth talk with peers. This page covers that last year before kindergarten.

The 12 goals below are grouped into 4 areas. Each one has a baseline from a play or routine sample. The numbers are illustrations, not norms. For younger preschoolers and early communication, see speech IEP goals for preschool. For the year after, see speech IEP goals for kindergarten.

What 4 and 5 year olds usually do

The CDC milestone checklist is a fair starting point for families and teams, as long as it stays a screen and not a target.^[1] Its age 4 list includes talking in sentences of 4 or more words, saying parts of songs or stories, telling about something from the day and answering simple questions about what objects are for. Its age 5 list includes telling a story with at least 2 events, answering questions about a story and keeping a conversation going past 3 exchanges.

NIDCD publishes a similar milestone list for speech and language by age.^[2] Neither list is an IEP target. Use them to explain to a family why a goal matters, then set the target from the child's own sample.

Many speech sound errors at this age are still typical. ASHA's practice guidance separates errors that are expected for age from patterns that make a child hard to understand.^[3] Avoid the rule-of-thumb intelligibility percentages by age that circulate online. Measure the child's own intelligibility and set the goal from that.

How to choose a goal for a 4 year old

What you hear	Area to target	How to measure	Template
Unfamiliar adults often cannot understand the child	Intelligibility and sound patterns	Percent of words understood in a sample; opportunities for the target pattern	Understood by an unfamiliar listener
Short phrases; leaves out small words and endings	Sentences and grammar	Opportunities in a sample; MLU	Ask what and where questions
Cannot tell what happened at home or outside	Telling about events	Events told in order out of events shown	Tell three things about today
Answers but does not add on; changes topic	Conversation	Exchanges in a sample	Add a comment in book reading

Worked example: intelligibility from a play sample

Zara is 4 years 4 months old. Her teacher says peers often walk away when she talks. The SLP records 3 play samples, each 5 minutes with a farm set. A second SLP who does not know Zara counts the words she can understand on each recording.

Sample	Words said	Words understood by the unfamiliar listener	Percent understood
1	112	63	56%
2	98	60	61%
3	125	71	57%

The median is 57% of words understood. The SLP's error analysis shows the main pattern is final consonant deletion ("ca" for cat, "do" for dog), which is in about 7 of every 10 words that end in a consonant.

The team writes two goals. One targets the pattern: "During play and book sharing, Zara will produce final consonants in 1-syllable words in 8 of 10 opportunities on 3 consecutive sessions." One targets the outcome: "In a 5-minute play sample, Zara will be understood by an unfamiliar listener for at least 75% of words on 2 consecutive monthly samples." The first goal moves the second.

Intelligibility and sound pattern goals

#	Goal	Baseline (illustrative)	Template
1	In a 5-minute play sample, the child will be understood by an unfamiliar listener for at least 75% of words on 2 consecutive monthly samples.	Median 57% of words	sl-art-015
2	During play and book sharing, the child will produce both consonants in s-cluster words (such as spoon, star, snake) in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 sessions.	2 of 10 opportunities	sl-phon-003
3	When a listener misunderstands a word, the child will repeat it with the target sound or say it another way in 4 of 5 breakdowns across 2 weeks.	Gives up or cries; 1 of 5	sl-phon-032

Goal 3 is often skipped, and it may matter most to the child. A 4-year-old who can fix a message keeps the conversation going even before every sound is in place.

Weak: "Zara will improve her articulation."

Measurable: "In a 5-minute play sample, Zara will be understood by an unfamiliar listener for at least 75% of words on 2 consecutive monthly samples."

For more on sound patterns, see articulation goals examples and the phonological process goals for preschool.

Sentence and grammar goals

#	Goal	Baseline (illustrative)	Template
4	During pretend play, the child will ask "what" and "where" questions with correct word order (such as "Where is the dog?") in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 sessions.	Rising tone only ("Dog where?"); 1 of 5	sl-syn-042
5	During play and snack, the child will use "no," "not" and "don't" inside a sentence (such as "I don't want it") in 8 of 10 opportunities.	Says "no" alone; 2 of 10	sl-syn-043
6	During centers, the child will use "want to" or "need to" with an action word (such as "I want to paint") in 4 of 5 opportunities on 3 data days.	1 of 5 opportunities	sl-syn-033

Count the form only where the sentence needs it. If the child never has a reason to say "don't" in the sample, set up play where refusing makes sense, such as offering a toy they do not want.

Weak: "Leo will use longer sentences."

Measurable: "During pretend play, Leo will ask 'what' and 'where' questions with correct word order in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 sessions."

Telling about events goals

Telling about the day is where language meets kindergarten. It is how a child reports a problem at recess or shares at morning meeting.

#	Goal	Baseline (illustrative)	Template
7	At closing circle, given 3 photos from the day, the child will tell 3 things that happened in order in 4 of 5 days.	Names 1 photo; 1 of 5 days	sl-nar-019
8	Given props for a familiar story, the child will retell it with at least 3 events in order on 3 of 4 weekly probes.	1 event	sl-nar-003
9	Right after an activity such as art or outdoor play, the child will tell an adult what they did using at least 1 past-tense verb in 4 of 5 opportunities.	Present tense only; 1 of 5	sl-exp-028

Weak: "Mia will improve her storytelling."

Measurable: "At closing circle, given 3 photos from the day, Mia will tell 3 things that happened in order in 4 of 5 days."

For more on story goals, see the narrative language goals.

Conversation goals

#	Goal	Baseline (illustrative)	Template
10	During shared book reading, the child will add a comment related to the page (such as "He's sad, he lost his hat") in 4 of 5 books across 2 weeks.	Points only; 1 of 5	sl-prag-022
11	During pretend play with a peer, the child will add a line that fits the play theme (such as "Your pizza is ready") at least 3 times in a 10-minute session on 3 of 4 data days.	0 to 1 times	sl-prag-053
12	When asked "why" about a choice ("Why did you pick the red one?"), the child will give a reason with "because" in 4 of 5 opportunities.	Repeats the choice; 1 of 5	sl-exp-046

Social communication covers taking turns in talk, staying on topic and adjusting to the listener.^[4] At this age, goal 11 is often the most useful, because pretend play is where 4-year-olds spend their talk with each other.

Weak: "Ava will improve her social language."

Measurable: "During pretend play with a peer, Ava will add a line that fits the play theme at least 3 times in a 10-minute session on 3 of 4 data days."

For waiting and turn games that sit under conversation, see sharing and turn-taking IEP goals.

How to measure speech goals at this age

Most of these goals come from a sample: a recording of 5 to 10 minutes of play, snack or book sharing. Use the same activity and the same toys each time, so the samples can be compared.

Intelligibility: have a listener who does not know the child count words understood. Do it monthly, not weekly.
Sound patterns and grammar: count the chances the target came up and the correct uses. The opportunity trial data sheet works in session.
Stories: count events told in order out of the events in the photos or story. A language sample every 6 to 8 weeks shows growth in length too.
Conversation: count comments or play lines per 10 minutes.

For bilingual children, score correct responses in either language unless the goal is about one language. ASHA's guidance on multilingual service delivery explains why.^[5]

Short-term objectives for goal 1

By December, in structured play with the SLP, the child will produce final consonants in 1-syllable words in 8 of 10 opportunities.
By March, the child will do the same in classroom play with the teacher in 8 of 10 opportunities.
By May, in a 5-minute play sample, an unfamiliar listener will understand at least 75% of the child's words.

Adapting goals between 4 and 5

Area	Age 4 (illustrative step)	Age 5 and kindergarten entry (illustrative step)
Intelligibility	Target one pattern that blocks understanding	Target remaining patterns in connected speech
Sentences	Questions, negatives, "want to"	Past tense, "and" and "because" sentences
Events	3 events with photo support	2-event story without pictures
Conversation	Comments in book reading and pretend play	3 or more exchanges on a topic with a peer

Pick the row from the child's samples, not the birthday. For more examples, the early communication goals for preschool and the preschool IEP goals pillar have both. Paste each draft into the goal checker before the meeting.

Frequently asked questions

What speech goals are good for a 4 year old?

Common targets are being understood by unfamiliar listeners, fixing a patterned sound error such as dropped final sounds, building questions and negative sentences, telling about the day in order, and adding comments during pretend play and book reading.

How intelligible should a 4 year old be?

Use the child's own sample rather than a rule-of-thumb percentage. Record 5 minutes of play, have an unfamiliar listener count words understood, and set the goal from that number. Discuss any concern with an SLP, who can judge which errors are expected for age.

Should a 4 year old's speech goal use developmental milestones?

Milestone lists from the CDC or NIDCD help explain why a skill matters. They are screening guides, not IEP targets. Set the criterion from the child's baseline and the growth you expect in one year.

Use it in IEP Atlas

Sources

CDC's Developmental Milestones, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Speech and Language Developmental Milestones, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Speech Sound Disorders: Articulation and Phonology, ASHA
Social Communication Disorder, ASHA
Multilingual Service Delivery in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, ASHA

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.