Speech development milestones

baby speech development, toddler speech milestones, toddler speech development, kids speech development

The age at which children learn to talk can vary widely. Some children are simply just late developers. There are lots of ways to encourage speech development – reading to your toddler being the most important and beneficial also give your toddler lots of opportunities to communicate and be patient.

The below speech development milestones are a guideline, it’s important to remember every child is different and if you are worried speak to your GP or local PHN.

3 months
  • Be vocal – have baby conversations with you
6 months
  • Babble using vowel sounds, eg. “goo”, “ga”
  • Imitate sounds
  • Laugh out loud
9 months
  • Smile and laugh at you
  • Turn to sounds
  • Reaching for objects
  • Use his voice to get attention
If following the normal speech developmental stages of infants and toddlers, your toddler should:
12 months
  • Respond to his own name
  • Use sounds and even a few understandable words
  • Be able to play peek-a-boo and other games
  • Be able to use gestures like pointing
  • Be able to understand simple directions
  • Be able to let you know what he wants and what he doesn’t want!
  • Be showing you things that interest him
15 months
  • Be using lots of gestures and sounds
  • Be using some words to communicate
  • Be able to understand familiar words and phrases, like “where’s daddy?” or “get your shoes”
  • Be able to play with a variety of toys, like blocks, dolls, cars, teddy bears etc
18 months
  • Use at least 10 words
  • Be able to make at least five different consonant sounds – for example: ba,ca,da,ga,la,ma,na,sha,ta,wa,ya
  • Be able to identify body parts when asked- eg. “show me your nose”
  • Imitate words
  • Use symbolic play – so pretend to feed a doll
21 months
  • Use at least 25 different words
  • Be learning new words every week
  • Be able to identify several objects when named – eg. “where is the bike?”
24 months
  • Use at least 50 words
  • Be putting 2 words together – eg. “daddy home”, “doggie gone”
  • Be able to recognise pictures in books
  • Be able to listen to simple stories
maternity & infant

Originally posted 2015-07-30 13:39:20.