SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Speech and language development begins even before a child says his or her first word. Through their play and early interactions with caregivers, siblings, and peers, children begin to develop and progress with their language development and communication. The table below demonstrates ranges of speech and language development with age approximations. This information represents, on average, the age by which most monolingual speaking children will accomplish the listed milestones. If your child has not accomplished one or two of the skills listed within an age range, do not be alarmed. However, if your child is not frequently and consistently demonstrating more than a few of the listed skills in each age category, discuss your concerns with your healthcare professional and seek the advice of an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist or audiologist.
0-6 months
- Responds to voices, sounds
- Recognizes voices, tones
- Turns in either direction to localize the source of a sound
- Smiles and laughs in response to others
- Coos various open vowel sounds (ahh, ooh, eh, ay)
- Strings vowels together, takes turns making sounds back and forth with caregivers
- Vocalizes to express pleasure and displeasure
7-12 months
- Listens intently when others are speaking
- Responds to his/her name
- Pauses in response to a firm “no”
- Enjoys listening to the names of pictures and objects
- Looks at a family member or favorite object when they are named
- Imitates some simple gestures such as waving and clapping
- Begins to babble syllables with m, n, b, d
- Produces long strings of gibberish (called jargoning) with varied syllables
- Babbles to get your attention
- Meaningfully uses “Mama” or “Dada”
13-18 months
- Understands simple commands, eg. “Come here,” or “Give a kiss”
- Points to one to three body parts
- Points to familiar objects and pictures when asked to locate them
- Imitates speech sounds and common and routine words
- Start to use exclamatory expressions, eg. “uh-oh,” “yeah,” "yuck," etc.
- Points and vocalizes to make requests
- Requests more of a desired item
- Uses “no” to protest
- Uses 10 – 30 words, typically nouns
19-24 months
- Comprehends approximately 300 words, understands more words each week
- Understands action commands such as "stand up." "jump," "run"
- Starts to understand basic categories ( e.g. food)
- Responds to yes/no questions
- Speech is 25%-50% intelligible to strangers
- Says new words every week or two
- Has an expressive vocabulary size of 50-100 words or more
- Starts to use words more than gestures
- Uses a word to name most common objects
- Begins to use pronouns ( I, me, you), although may still confuse these
- Begins to use possessives (my, mine)
- Begins to put two words together
2-3 years
- Has a receptive vocabulary of 500-900 words
- Points to many objects and pictures when asked to locate them
- Follows 2-step directions
- Identifies more body parts
- Listens to a short story
- Requests objects by naming them
- Understands “one” and “all”
- Knows at least three prepositions ( e.g., in, on, under)
- Speech is 50%- 75% intelligible to familiar and unfamiliar listeners
- Expressive vocabulary grows 200 - 450 words and more
- Uses attention-getting words such as "Look!" "Watch!" or calling one's name
- Uses 2-4 word phrases
- Asks "What" and "Where" questions
- Uses pronouns : I, you, me correctly
- Begins to use some plurals and past tense
3-4 years
- Has a receptive vocabulary of 1,200-2,000 words or more, learns new words every day
- Follows 2-3 step directions
- Has a word for most common objects (foods, toys, animals, vehicles, etc.)
- Starts to talk about his/her actions and activities
- Knows one or more colors
- Answers simple "who," "what," and "where" questions
- Starts to understand past vs. now
- Speech is 80% intelligible
- Has an expressive vocabulary of 800-1,500 words or more
- Uses at least four prepositions
- Knows names of friends and relatives
- Produces 4-5 word sentences
- Initiates conversation with others
- States his/her name and/or age
- Sings a few lines of a song
- Uses –am, are, is in sentences
- Uses regular plurals, possessives and simple past tense verbs consistently
- Uses some regular plurals, contractions, conjunctions , and future tense verbs
4-5 years
- Has a receptive vocabulary of 10,000 words or more
- Understands more concepts
- Understands short stories and can answer simple questions about them
- Follows 3-step commands
- Speech is intelligible to most strangers
- Produces the following sounds correctly: /p/, /b/, /m/, /h/, /n/, /w/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /g/, /d/, /f/, /y/
- Counts to ten by rote
- Uses more descriptive words
- States function of common objects
- Likes to "read" familiar stories to him/herself
- Produces 4-6 word sentences
- Asks more questions, such as "when" and "why"
- Relates experiences at school, etc.
- Uses verbs with the -ing ending
5-6 years
- Follows instructions in a group setting
- Has a receptive vocabulary of 13,000 words or more
- Uses past and future tense appropriately
- Uses conjunctions
- Produces 5-7 word sentences
- Starts to define and describe objects in more detail
- Retells a story
- Uses language to invite peers to play and negotiate with them
- Counts to 30 by rote
- Names days of the week
- Asks “how” questions
6-7 years
- Has a receptive language of 20,000 words or more
- Understands most concepts of time ( e.g., before, after)
- Understands left v s. right
- Produces the following sounds correctly: /p/, /b/, /m/, /h/, /n/, /w/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /y/, /ng/, /r/, /l/
- Repeats sentences of 7 - 9 words
- Asks about the meaning of unfamiliar words
- Counts to 100 by rote
- Understands terms such as: alike, different, beginning, end.
- Does simple reading and writing
7-8 years
- Follows complex directions without repetition
- Uses compound and complex sentences
- Produces the following sounds correctly: /p/, /b/, /m/, /h/, /n/, /w/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /y/, /ng/, /r/, /l/, /sh/, /ch/, /th/, /j/
- Carries on an adult-like conversation