Speech and Language Milestones

By a child’s first birthday he/she should be able to:

• Respond to the word “no” and to changes in tone of voice
• Recognize own name and the names of familiar objects
• Respond to simple requests and questions
• Say 2-3 words in addition to “mama” and “dada”
• Imitate familiar words

By age 2 a child should be able to:

• Point to pictures in a book (e.g. “Where’s the apple?”)  and point to a few body parts (e.g. “Where’s your nose?)
• Listen to simple stories
• Wave hello and good-bye
• Use 10-20 words
• Combine two words (e.g.  “Mommy go.”)

By age 3, a child should be able to:

• Understand two step directions
• Match some colors and know some opposites (e.g. up/down, happy/sad) and simple time concepts (e.g. tomorrow)
• Answer “where” questions and ask “what’s that” and “where’s my?”
• Use approximately 400 words
• Use short (2 and 3- word) sentences

By age 4, a child should be able to:

• Answer “who” and “what” questions
• Say his or her last name and several nursery rhymes
• Use approximately 1000 words
• Use 4 and 5- word sentences
• Tell a story

By age 5, a child should be able to:

• Answer simple questions about stories
• Identify basic shapes
• Use regular past tense correctly
• Use approximately 1500 words
• Ask many questions, including “who” and “why”

By age 6, a child should be able to:

• Count ten items
• Understand “same” and “different”
• Understand prepositions (e.g. in front, under)
• Use approximately 2000 words
• Define objects by their use
• Ask questions for information

After age 6, language milestones are not always appropriate.   For these children, it becomes important to ask relevant questions about their abilities at school and at home.  These questions may include:

• Can the child follow directions?
• Can the child keep up with the pace of the classroom?
• Can the child participate in class discussion/circle time, etc.?
• Does the child seem frustrated by difficulty communicating?

Speech Sound Milestones

A child should be able to produce the following sounds accurately at least 75% of the time: