Milestones
Speech and Language Milestones
By 12 Months
Speech
- Babbles using long and short groups of sounds ("upup", "bibibi") repeating sounds ("mamama")
- Uses the sounds p, b, and m
- Imitates words and has a one or two word vocabulary ("Hi," "dog," "Dada," or "Mama")
Language
- Looks in the direction of sounds
- Understands words for common items ("cup," "shoe," or "juice")
- Responds to simple requests
- Babbles to get and keep attention
- Communicates using gestures, such as waving or holding up arms
Play/Social
- Enjoys playing peek-a-boo
- Smiles when approached
- Laughs in response to play
- Manipulates and explores objects
- Responds to facial expressions
- Lifts arms towards a person and/or extends objects to a person spontaneously
- Imitates adult actions
Sensory Processing
- Plays for 2-3 minutes with a toy
- Reaches for nearby objects
- Tracks objects with eyes
- Communicates discomfort or hunger with crying
- Tolerates a range of textured foods
- Uses tongue to move food
- Drinks from a cup
1-2 Years Old
Speech
- Uses p, b, m, h, and w in words
- Unfamiliar listeners can understand about 50% of what the child says
Language
- Points to body parts when asked
- Follows 1-part directions ("Roll the ball" or "Kiss the baby")
- Responds to simple questions ("What's that?")
- Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes
- Points to pictures in a book when you name them
- Uses a lot of new words (between 50-100 words)
- Starts to name pictures in books
- Asks questions (e.g., "What's that?", "Who's that?", and "Where's kitty?")
- Puts two words together (e.g., "more apple", "no bed", and "mommy book")
Play/Social
- Establishes eye contact
- Smiles when socially approached
- Laughs in response to play
- Calms/settles (cries frequently)
- Manipulates and explores objects
- Lifts arms to parent spontaneously
- Responds to facial expressions
- Imitates an adult's actions
Sensory Processing
- Distinguishes between edible and inedible objects (18 months)
- Looks for missing objects
- Sits, looks, and listens to books being read
- Understands common dangers of hot objects, stairs, glass, etc.
- Enjoys/tolerates messy play
- Tolerates a range of different textured foods
- Solves problems with trial and error
2-3 Years Old
Speech
- Uses p, b, m, n, t, d, k, g, f, s, y, and h
- Unfamiliar listeners understand 50-75% of what the child says
- Replaces some sounds (e.g., "car" becomes "gar", "tea" becomes "dea", "sea" becomes "tea" or "shoe" becomes "to")
- Produces sounds at the end of words (e.g., "tap" = "ta")
Language
- Follows one-step directions
- Understands simple questions
- Points to named objects/pictures
- Uses approximately 200-300 words
- Uses 2 to 3 words combinations to talk and ask for things
- Has a word for almost everything
- Asks simple Wh- questions (when, where, what, etc.)
- Talks about missing objects
- Uses prepositions (in, on, or under)
Phonological
- Begins to understand rhyming
Play/Social Skills
- Imitates pretend play actions (e.g, giving a drink) and/or demonstrates play related to their body (e.g., sleeping or eating)
- Plays house with dolls
- Uses symbols in play such as a stick becoming a sword
- Engages in play themes which reflect less frequently experiences life events (e.g., visiting a doctor)
Sensory Processing
- Uses the toilet with assistance and has daytime control
- Settles themselves to sleep at night or during the day
- Pays attention for three minutes
3-4 Years Old
Speech
- Speech should be 75-90% understood by unfamiliar listeners
- Uses p, b, m, n, t, d, k, g, f, s, y, an h in words
Language
- Responds when you call from another room
- Understands colors and shapes
- Understands words for family: brother, grandmother, and aunt
- Uses approximately 1,000 words
- Answers simple who, what, and where questions
- Uses pronouns (e.g., I, you, me, we, and they)
- Uses some plural words (e.g., toys, birds, and buses)
- Asks when and how questions
- Puts 4 words together but may make some mistakes, (e.g., "I go to school")
- Talks about what happened during the day and uses about four sentences at a time
Phonological
- Produces rhyming words (e.g., cat, hat, rat)
Play/Social Skills
- Takes turns with other children
- Plays with children in a group
- Engages in play themes which explain beyond personal experience
- Talks about their feelings
Sensory Processing
- Chooses weather appropriate clothing
- Differentiates between the real and pretend world
- Dress self (only requiring assistance with laces, buttons, or other fasteners in awkward places)
- Tolerates different clothing textures, seams, tags, etc.
- Feeds self without difficulty
- Copes in busy/noisy environments
4-5 Years Old
Speech
- 90% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners
- Uses p, b, m, n, t, d, k, g, f, s, y, h, sh, ch, j, z, l, and v in words
- Talks without repeating sounds or words most of the time
Language
- Understands words for order (e.g., first, next and last)
- Understands words for time (e.g., yesterday, today, and tomorrow)
- Follows longer directions (e.g., "Put your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and then pick out a book")
- Follows classroom directions (e.g., "Draw a circle on your paper around something you eat")
- Hears and understands most of what they hear at home and in school
- Uses approximately 2,500 words
- Responds to "What did you say?"
- Names letters and numbers
- Tells short stories
- Keeps a conversation going
Phonological
- Claps/counts syllables in words (e.g., computer = com-pu-ter)
- Recognizes/produces words with the same beginning sound (e.g., cat/cup)
- Segments/blends words by onset (e.g., s+un = sun)
- Blends two or three sounds to make a word (e.g., s_u_n = sun)
Play/Social Skills
- Engages in play themes which expand beyond personal experience (e.g., fireman rescuing people)
- Talks about their feelings
- Plays with other children with shared aims within play
- Plays imaginatively (e.g., playing in the home-corner, dressing up and cooking)
- Engages in games with simple rules (e.g., hide and seek)
Sensory Processing
- Settles themselves to sleep at night
- Develops friendships
- Expresses emotions
- Sits to pay attention (e.g., mat time)
- Dresses self independently
