Speech Language Milestones: What Should My Child Be Able To Do?
Hearing and Understanding
Birth – 3 Months
- Startles at loud sounds
- Quiets or smiles when spoken to
- Seems to recognize your voice
4 – 6 Months
- Recognizes voices and sounds
- Looks towards speaker
- Notices music and toys that make noise
7 Months – 1 Year
- Peek-a-boo and itsy bitsy spider
- Responds to own name
- Turns and looks in direction of sounds
- Recognizes words for common objects (juice, cup, shoe, book)
- Understands no consistently
1 – 2 Years
- Points to a few body parts (eyes, nose)
- Follows one step commands (Come here, Give Mom a kiss)
2 – 3 Years
- Understands opposites (go-stop, on-off)
- Labels items in book or on tv
3 – 4 Years
- Answers “wh” questions (who, when)
- Follows 3 step commands
4 – 5 Years
- Listens and understands most of what is said at home and school
Talking
Birth – 3 Months
- Cries differently for different needs
- Smiles when sees you
- Makes pleasure sounds (cooing)
4 – 6 Months
- Makes different sounds (babbling,
gurgling) - Chuckles and laughs
- Shows pleasure and displeasure
7 Months – 1 Year
- Babbling has both long and short sounds
- May have 1-2 words (hi, dada, mama)
- Uses gestures to communicate
- Imitates different speech sounds
1 – 2 Years
- Uses 1-2 words
- Vocabulary of approx XX words
- Turn taking
- Experiment with new consonant sounds
2 – 3 Years
- Speech is understood by family
- Asks simple questions (yes/no)
- Has a vocabulary of 100-200 words
3 – 4 Years
- Will talk without repeating syllables
- Speech is understood outside family
- Uses 4 or more words to make a sentence
4 – 5 Years
- Says most sounds correctly except a few like s, r, v, z, j, ch, th, sh.
- Uses appropriate grammar