Speech and Language Milestones:
From the ages 0 to 5 your child is rapidly growing and increasing their language skills. Speech and language milestones are great ways to track your child’s development!
Speech is the way we express language through sounds, while language is the set of rules we use to express ideas. Speech involves the coordinated use of the tongue, lips, jaw, and vocal tract to produce recognizable sounds. Language involves the words and gestures we use to share ideas and understand what others are saying. Here are some common stepping stones to look for:
Speech Milestones
Birth to three months
Coos, makes sounds like ooooo, aahh, and mmmmm
Cries change for different needs
4 to 6 months
Begins to say consonant sounds like “b” and “m”
Vocalizes different vowel sounds—sometimes combined with a consonant—like uuuuuummm, aaaaaaagoo, or daaaaaaaaaa
7 months to 1 year
Babbles long strings of sounds, like mamamama, upup, or babababa
Says one or two words—like mama, dada, hi, and bye
Uses sounds and gestures to get and keep attention
1 to 2 years
Uses a lot of new words
Correctly produces p, b, m, h, and w in words
Uses a combination of long strings of sounds, syllables, and real words with speech-like inflection
2 to 3 years
Correctly produces p, b, m, h, w, d, and n in words
Correctly produces most vowels in words
Speech is becoming clearer but may not be understandable to unfamiliar listeners or to people who do not know your child
3 to 4 years
Correctly produces t, k, g, f, y, and –ing in words
By age 4 years, your child says all sounds in a consonant cluster containing two or more consonants in a row—like the tw in tweet or the –nd in sand. May not produce all sounds correctly—for example, spway for “spray”
4 to 5 yearsProduces most consonants correctly, and speech is understandable in conversationSays all speech sounds in words. May make mistakes on sounds that are harder to say, like l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, and th
Language Milestones
Birth to 3 months
Startles at loud sounds
Quiets or smiles when you talk
Seems to recognize your voice and will quiet if crying
4 to 6 months
Moves their eyes in the direction of sounds
Responds to changes in your tone of voice
Notices toys that make sounds
Pays attention to music
7 months to 1 year
Understands “no”
Turns and looks in the direction of sounds or their name
Looks for loved ones when upset
Raises arms to be picked up
Responds to simple words and phrases like “Go bye-bye” and “Look at Mommy"
1 to 2 years
Identifies one or more body parts
Understands and uses words for common objects, some actions, and people in their lives
Follows directions—like “Give me the ball,” “Hug the teddy bear,” “Come here,” or “Show me your nose
Uses and understands at least 50 different words for food, toys, animals, and body parts Speech may not always be clear—like du for “shoe” or dah for “dog
2 to 3 years
Uses word combinations often but may occasionally repeat some words or phrases, like baby – baby – baby sit down or I want – I want juice
Says their name when asked
Gives reasons for things and events, like saying that they need a coat when it’s cold outside
Answers questions like “What do you do when you are sleepy?” or “Which one can you wear
3 to 4 years
Compares things, with words like bigger or shorter
Tells you a story from a book or a video
Understands and uses more location words, like inside, on, and under
Uses words like a or the when talking, like a book or the dog
4 to 5 years
Produces grammatically correct sentences. Sentences are longer and more complex.
Understands and uses location words, like behind, beside, and between
Uses more words for time—like yesterday and tomorrow—correctly
Follows simple directions and rules to play games
Locates the front of a book and its title
If you think your child might have a delay, talk to a pediatrician about your concerns. They can provide you with a referral for a speech and language evaluation from a speech-language pathologist. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Speech American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) offer developmental milestone checklists for a variety of ages. We also have a free milestones download right here in our Learning Center! These are handy to keep on your fridge or wall and check off skills as your child learns them.
Post contribution by: Christine Lopez, M.S., CCC-SLP
References: CDC, ASHA
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