Somewhere between the kindy orientation evening and the first uniform fitting, most parents have the same quiet thought: is my child actually ready for this? Communication sits right at the heart of that question. Prep is a talking, listening, asking, telling, waiting-your-turn kind of place.
This article is a "what to notice" list, not a test. There's no score at the bottom and no pass mark. Many of the children we see across Brisbane's south side and Logan start Prep with a mix of real strengths and a few areas still growing, and that's exactly what you'd expect at four and five. Noticing simply means you can support what's still developing, and a teacher gets to know your child from day one.
The Queensland Prep picture
In Queensland, children are eligible for Prep in the year they turn five by 30 June (Queensland Government, n.d.). Prep starts in late January, so a child born in May starts a few months before their fifth birthday, while a child born in August starts the following year at about five and a half. That's a wide age spread in one classroom, and it's worth remembering before you compare your child with a friend's. A year of development is enormous at this age. Eligibility is about age only. Nothing on the list below is a requirement for starting Prep; it's there to help plan support, and if your child already uses pictures, signs or a device to communicate, those supports belong in the transition plan too.
What communication skills matter for Prep?
Here's what we'd gently keep an eye on in the months before school. Think of each one as a question to wonder about rather than a box to tick.
Listening and following directions. Many children by this age can follow a two-step instruction without the steps being repeated ("Hang up your bag, then come and sit on the mat"), and plenty are managing three. Classroom instructions are also full of small concept words — before, under, next to, the one with — and those words carry a surprising amount of the meaning. We've written more about this in our article on concepts and following directions.
Vocabulary, including concept words. Does your child have words for things, actions and descriptions? Can they use position words (in, on, behind), time words (first, after, later) and comparison words (bigger, same, different)? Prep maths and literacy lean on those words from the very first week.
Speech an unfamiliar adult can understand. Most children starting school can be understood by a grown-up who doesn't know them, even if a few sounds are still settling. A Prep teacher meets twenty-odd new voices at once, so clarity makes a real difference to how easily a child is heard and included.
Telling about something that happened. Can your child tell Grandma what they did at kindy, roughly in order, with a who, a where and a what-happened? That little recount is the seed of every story they'll write at school. Our narrative macrostructure article explains what we listen for.
Asking for help and saying what they need. "I don't know how." "Can you open this?" "I need the toilet." Confident little requests like these matter a great deal, because they keep a child safe, comfortable and learning when you're not in the room.
Taking turns in conversation. Waiting for a gap, answering a question and then adding something back, staying on one topic for a few turns. These are the skills that make friendships work in the sandpit and the reading corner.
Early print and sound awareness. Noticing that print carries meaning, knowing which way a book opens, recognising a few letters (often the first letter of their own name), and enjoying rhyme and silly sound play. Children who have print pointed out to them during storybook reading build these skills noticeably faster (Justice & Ezell, 2002). We cover the detail in Concepts About Print and What is phonological awareness?.
If you read that list and thought "yes, yes, mostly, not yet, yes", you're in very familiar territory.
What kindy educators look for
Kindy teachers think about transition a great deal, and they frame it differently from how parents often imagine. Australia's national early years framework, Belonging, Being and Becoming (V2.0), describes transition as a process that unfolds over time rather than a single day, one that works best when children experience continuity between settings and when educators, families and schools share what they know about a child (Australian Government Department of Education, 2022). Being an "effective communicator" is one of the framework's five learning outcomes, which tells you how central language is to the whole picture.
Your child's kindy transition statement is part of that sharing. If you have communication observations of your own, they belong in it too.
Why language matters so much in the first year
Spoken language is the ground that reading and writing are built on. Australian speech pathologist and researcher Pamela Snow puts it plainly: language is literacy, and literacy is language (Snow, 2016). Children who arrive with strong listening, vocabulary and storytelling skills have a head start on decoding and comprehension.
National data gives a sense of scale. The Australian Early Development Census measures children in their first year of school across five domains, one of which is language and cognitive skills. In 2024, just under 53 per cent of Australian children were on track across all five, and 7.7 per cent were considered developmentally vulnerable on language and cognitive skills (Australian Government Department of Education, 2025). In a class of 25, that's one or two children, every year.
A word about hearing
Before you wonder about anything else on this list, think about hearing. Glue ear and recurring ear infections are common in the preschool years, and a child who's missing the quiet parts of speech can look like a child who isn't listening. A hearing check through your GP is quick, and it's the first thing we'd ask about in any assessment.
When is an assessment before Prep worth it?
Not every child needs one. It's worth considering if your child's speech is hard for people outside the family to follow, if following instructions at kindy is a daily struggle, if their stories are hard to piece together, if they rarely ask for help or join in conversations, or simply if your gut or your child's educator has flagged something.
A pre-Prep assessment isn't a pass/fail event. It's careful data collection: we play, we listen, we chat with you, and we use standardised tools where they add something. What you get is a clear picture of your child's strengths and the areas still developing, written up in plain language. Families often share these reports with the school, and the teachers we've heard back from have found them useful for planning seating, pacing, visual supports and extra explanation from the first week, instead of waiting for a problem to surface. And if support would help, there's still time before the first bell.
Speaking Speech Pathology offers mobile speech pathology across Brisbane's south side and Logan, at home, at your child's kindy or early learning centre, or by Zoom. If you'd like to talk through what you're noticing, get in touch.
Ready for practical strategies? Read our companion article: Building Communication Skills Before School Starts: Strategies for Parents
Alexandra Bouwmeester is a Senior Speech Pathologist (MSPA, CPSP), certified in Hanen's It Takes Two to Talk, with over 14 years' experience and a mum of two boys. She offers mobile speech pathology to families across Brisbane's south side and Logan.
This article is general information and not a substitute for individualised speech pathology assessment or therapy. If you have concerns about your child, please speak with a qualified speech pathologist.
References
- Australian Government Department of Education. (2022). Belonging, being and becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0). Australian Government Department of Education for the Ministerial Council. www.acecqa.gov.au
- Australian Government Department of Education. (2025). Australian Early Development Census national report 2024. www.aedc.gov.au
- Justice, L. M., & Ezell, H. K. (2002). Use of storybook reading to increase print awareness in at-risk children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(1), 17–29.
- Queensland Government. (n.d.). Enrolment age requirements. www.qld.gov.au
- Snow, P. C. (2016). Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture: Language is literacy is language – Positioning speech-language pathology in education policy, practice, paradigms and polemics. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18(3), 216–228.
