Speech and Language Milestones

Speech and Language Developmental Milestones

Are you concerned about your child's speech and language development? It is very common for parents to wonder if their child is developing at age-appropriate levels. The charts below indicate typically developing language milestones for ages birth to five years, according to the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA). If you have concerns about two or more items within one age group, a speech and language assessment may be necessary. Auburn Therapy and Learning Center is happy to answer your questions!

Receptive Language

Expressive Language

Startles to loud sounds
Quiets or smiles when spoken to
Seems to recognize your voice and quiets if

crying

Increases or decreases sucking behavior in

response to sound

Birth to 3 months

Makes pleasure sounds (cooing, gooing)
Cries differently for different needs
Smiles when sees you

Moves eyes in direction of sounds
Responds to changes in tone of your voice
Notices toys that make sounds
Pays attention to music

4-6 months

Babbling sounds more speech-like with many different sounds, including p, b and m
Chuckles and laughs
Vocalizes excitement and displeasure
Makes gurgling sounds when left alone and when playing with you

Enjoys games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake
Turns and looks in direction of sounds
Listens when spoken to
Recognizes words for common items like "cup", "shoe", "book", or "juice"
Begins to respond to requests (e.g. "Come here" or "Want more?")

7-12 months

Babbling has both long and short groups of sounds such as "tata upup bibibibi"
Uses speech or noncrying sounds to get and keep attention
Uses gestures to communicate (waving, holding arms to be picked up)
Imitates different speech sounds
Has one or two words (hi, dog, dada, mama) around first birthday, although sounds may not be clear

Points to a few body parts when asked
Follows simple commands and understands simple questions ("Roll the ball," "Kiss the baby," "Where's your shoe?")
Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes
Points to pictures in a book when named

1-2 years

Says more words every month
Uses some one- or two- word questions ("Where kitty?" "Go bye-bye?" "What's that?")
Puts two words together ("more cookie," "no juice," "mommy book")
Uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words

Understands differences in meaning ("go-stop," "in-on," "big-little," "up-down")
Follows two requests ("Get the book and put it on the table")
Listens to and enjoys hearing stories for longer periods of time

2-3 years

Has a word for almost everything
Uses two- or three- words to talk about and ask for things
Uses k, g, f, t, d, and n sounds
Speech is understood by familiar listeners most of the time
Often asks for or directs attention to objects by naming them
Asks why?
May stutter on words or sounds

Hears you when you call from another room
Hears television or radio at the same loudness level as other family members
Understands words for some colors, like red, blue, and green
Understands words for some shapes, like circle and square
Understands words for family, like brother, grandmother, and aunt

3-4 years

Talks about activities at school or at friends' homes
Talks about what happened during the day. Uses about 4 sentences at a time
People outside of the family usually understand child's speech
Answers simple "who?", "what?", and "where?" questions
Asks when and how questions
Says rhyming words, like hat-cat
Uses pronouns, like I, you, me, we, and they
Uses some plural words, like toys, birds, and buses
Uses a lot of sentences that have 4 or more words
Usually talks easily without repeating syllables or words

Understands words for order, like first, next, and last
Understands words for time, like yesterday, today, and tomorrow
Follows longer directions, like "Put your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and then pick out a book."
Follows classroom directions, like "Draw a circle on your paper around something you eat."
Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school

4-5 years

Says all speech sounds in words. May make mistakes on sounds that are harder to say, like /l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, th/
Responds to "What did you say?"
Talks without repeating sounds or words most of the time
Names letters and numbers
Uses sentences that have more than 1 action word, like jump, play, and get. May make some mistakes, like "Zach got 2 video games, but I got one."
Tells a short story
Keeps a conversation going
Talks in different ways depending on the listener and place. May use short sentences with younger children or talk louder outside than inside

Speech Sound Development by Age

Articulation refers to the coherent forming and pronunciation of the individual sounds used to compose words, phrases and sentences. An articulation disorder refers to a general difficulty in creating certain sounds. Sometimes sounds are omitted, added, modified or substituted. Articulation difficulties can be present in children, as well as adults. For example, a child may substitute a “w” in place of an “r” (“wabbit” for “rabbit”). An adult may exhibit difficulty with articulation skills after experiencing a stroke or traumatic brain injury.

3

m, n, h, w, p

5

-ing, y, v

7

r, s, z

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), a guideline for expected conversational intelligibility levels of typically developing children talking to unfamiliar listeners can be calculated by dividing the child's age in years by four and converting that number into a percentage (Coplan & Gleason, 1988; Flipsen, 2006):

1 year—25% intelligible,
2 years—50% intelligible,
3 years—75% intelligible,
4 years—100% intelligible

4

b, f, t, d, g, k

6

l, j, ch, sh, wh, zh

8

th, blends