Are your child's speech and language skills
developing normally? While every child is unique,
the following timetable compiled from information
provided by the American Speech Language Hearing
Association (www.asha.org)
and the Center for Speech, Language and
Occupational Therapy, Inc (www.cslot.com)
offers a rough guideline of what to expect.
3 months:
- Child responds to sounds and seems to recognize
your voice.
- Cries differently for different needs.
- Smiles when he or she sees you.
By 8 months:
- Listens when spoken to.
- Recognizes words for common items like "blanket"
or "juice"
- Uses long chains of babbled sounds.
Imitates speech sounds and "sings" along to
music.
By 12 months:
- Understands 50 words.
- Begins to respond to simple commands like "come
here."
- Says first words, like "bye-bye," "dada."
By 18 months:
- Nods and shakes head to some questions.
- Says 10 names for common objects and familiar
people, like "mommy" and "ball."
- Says more words every month.
By 2 years:
- Understands 500-900 words.
- Uses speech that is 75% understandable to
familiar listeners, although many speech "errors"
can be heard.
- Combines two and three words, as in "more milk"
and "mommy bye-bye."
By 3 years:
- Understand differences in meaning, as in
"go-stop," "big-little," "clean-dirty," etc.
- Produces speech that is 90% understandable.
- Uses three-to-five-word sentences.
- Usually talks easily without repeating words or
syllables.
By 4 years:
- Uses many more words than you can count.
- Produces speech that is understood by all.
- Asks "how," "where," "when," "and "why"
questions.
- Uses compound sentences combined by "and,"
"but," "so" and "because."
By 5 years:
- Says most sounds correctly except perhaps a few
like th and r.
- tells stories that stick to topic.
Uses the same grammar as the rest of the
family and can use complex verbs like "could have
been."
By 6-7 years:
- Speech is error-free and adult-like.
- Seldom makes grammatical errors.
