How old should a child know how to do this?

[Keytochebakia]

I'm concerned about my son's development, and he very likely has autism, so I was just wondering at what age on average children know how to do the following:

• basic phonics (what sound each letter makes and pointing to B when asked what letter "bbb"
• recognising numbers
• actually understanding what numbers are (that 4 balls for instance : 4) and knowing how many objects there are in a small group of up to 5 or 6 items.
• knowing at least 4 colours
• sorting objects by colour

Thank you

None of those things are particularly impacted by autism and very dependent on what you teach rather than what a child can do.

My DD has only just started grasping this. She turns 5 in a few months. Her friends in school got it a bit quicker but she is the youngest in her class, so it makes sense. Most of them were already 5.

Every child has different strengths but I would say this would be around 2.5-4 years old.
We played lots of games, not trying to teach specifically, like I just counted forks for setting the table, how many pieces of apple as I put them on the plate etc. Never quizzed them or anything. If I did it in public I'd prob have been called a performance parent 😁

There is quite a big window of development during which time children, who developing typically, will learn these things, influenced by different factors. Some children will be starting to learn them around 3 and others closer to 5.

Oh, basic phonics is started to be taught here in last few months of preschool in prep for first year at school.

There is no age for any of this. It depends on what the child has been exposed to. These are not developmental milestones; they are culturally determined skills.

Anywhere between about 2.5 and 4. But being able to do or not do any of those things isn’t necessarily a sign of autism or not.

Depends on so many things. How old is your child?

Colours and colour sorting was around 2.5 years for us but the phonics didn't really click until about 4 when my DD started school.

So for all those things I'd say a large age range of 2.5-4 years old.

I have 2 dc with asd 1 probably could do all that by 3/4 the other not till 7+. The one who couldn't do it till 7+ is currently at university. They all develop at different rates. My nt child was about 4/5.

Colours and sorting colours 18 months to 2 1/2, my 16 month old has just started recognising colours. The rest 3-4 years. My dd is in reception and most of the class could do those before starting school, so I’d say pre-school year.

Incidentally, my niece does have autism and could do most of that by 2.5. The only thing I’m not sure about is the understanding about numbers to 5. That definitely came later than the other things on that list.

Any age range between 18 months and 6 is normal for all four. The order and extent of each will vary from one to another.

Phonics around age 4
Numbers to 10 around age 3 to 4 depending on what they’ve been taught.
Colours around age 3
sorting by colour around age 3 as they learn their colours.
All the is an average. Phonics and numbers are taught in reception at school so age 4-5. Many children start school not knowing any sounds or numbers. Most know their colours.

I teach reception and your first two points we teach at school so 4/5. The other two I’d expect earlier but I wouldn’t say it’s an indicator of autism. I do have a lot of experience with this though so if you let us know some more about why you think this I could possibly give some advice!

Being unable to do these things alone is not an indicator of autism

That whole list would be 5.

Individual parts, especially the colours, would be younger, around 3.

The subitising groups is 5,same as phonics.

Children develop at different rates, there are lots of factors involved. But I would say more commonly
phonics - 4-5
recognising numbers 3-4
Understanding numbers 3-4
naming colours - 2-3
sorting colours 3-4

Have you spoken to any professionals (childminder / nursery staff / teacher) about your dc’s development? Do they have any concerns? A delay in these areas wouldn’t necessarily point to autism, unless there are other developmental issues.

A child with asd may not learn in a linear way. May miss some things out. Jump to others. Be able to read but not count. So is pointless to list a set of things if they do get diagnosed asd .
Anyway you can look at early years programmes to see what is taught when https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2

My daughter definitely knew her colours before she was two and knew letters and numbers by 2 1/2. I taught her phonics when she was three and she could count and do very basic addition at that time. She was reading fluently and knew her 2, 5, and 10x tables by the time she started school.

Have you tried directly teaching these things to your child and they’re not grasping it?

If this is the case the first thing I’d worry about is the way you’re teaching it. It might just not be interesting to your child so they aren’t really bothering to listen. Different people find different things interesting, so while one child might be interested in learning to count balls, another child might not care but could be very interested if you’re counting how many dogs there are in the park or how many potatoes are on their plate that they’re about to eat.

If you haven’t tried directly teaching these things then I don’t think their lack of understanding indicates anything more than a lack of repeated exposure to the topics.

My almost 2.5 year old can do all of that but he goes to nursery full time and it is all covered there. He knows his name starts with R and can recognise it, he can recognise a few other letters too but not all of them.

I'd say the variety must be huge. Some children aren't taught it until later either and then pick it up quickly.

@Keytochebakia
How old is your son?
Has he had any Developmental assessments?
Is he at preschool/school??