Speech and Language Development (Milestones)

0-6 months

- Responds to voices, sounds

- Recognizes voices, tones

- Localizes to sounds

- Cries at different pitches to express different needs

- Smiles

- Coos

- Produces phonemes /p,b,m/ in babbling

7-12 months

- Listens when spoken to

- Responds to his/her name

- Understands “no” and common objects (e.g.,  cup)

- Understands some simple commands

- Uses more complex babbling

- Uses speech intentionally

- Uses more gestures to communicate

- Produces first words

13-18 months

- Understands additional  simple commands

- Points to one to three body parts

- Makes more requests

- Speech is unintelligible

- Repeats more

- Has an expressive vocabulary of 5-20 words

19-24 months

- Has a receptive vocabulary of 300 and more words

- Points to pictures in a book

- Understands five body parts and basic categories ( e.g. , food)

- Speech is 25%-50% intelligible to strangers

- Has an expressive vocabulary size of 50-100 words or more

- Names common objects

- Begins to use pronouns ( I, me, you), although may still confuse these

- Begins to use possessives (my, mine)

- Begins to put two word together

2-3 years

- Has a receptive vocabulary of 500-900 words

- Follows 2-step directions

- Identifies more body parts

- Requests objects by naming

- Understands “one” and “all”

- Knows at least three prepositions ( e.g.,  in, on, under)

- Speech is 50%- 75% intelligible

- Has an expressive vocabulary of 50-250 words and more

- Uses 2-4 word phrases

- Uses pronouns :  I, you, me  correctly

- Begins to use some plurals and past tense

3-4 years

- Has a receptive vocabulary of 1,200-2,000 words or more

- Follows 2-3 step directions

- Knows names of familiar animals

- Knows one  or more colors

- Understands opposites (e.g., stop-go)

- Starts to understand past v s.  now

- Speech is 80% intelligible

- Has an expressive vocabulary of 800-1,500 words or more

- Uses at least four prepositions

- Produces 4-5 word sentences

- Uses –am, are, is in sentences

-  Uses regular plurals, possessives and simple past tense verbs consistently

- Uses some regular plurals, contractions, conjunctions , and future tense verbs

4-5 years

- Has a receptive vocabulary  of 10,000 words  or more

- Understands more special concepts

- Understands short stories and can answer simple questions about them

- Follows 3-step commands

- Speech is intelligible to most strangers

- Counts to ten by rote

- Uses more descriptive words

-  States function of common objects

- Produces  4-6 word sentences

- Relates  experiences at school,  etc.

5-6 years

- Follows instructions in a group setting

- Has a receptive vocabulary of 13,000 words or more

- Uses past and future tense appropriately

- Uses conjunctions

- Produces 5-7  word sentences

- Uses more details in sentences

-  Retells  a story

- Counts to 30 by rote

-  Names days of the week

- Asks “how” questions

6-7 years

- Has a receptive language of 20,000 words or more

- Understands most concepts  of time ( e.g.,  before, after)

- Understands left v s. right

- Counts to 100 by rote

- Understands terms such as: alike, different, beginning, end.

-  Does simple reading and writing

7-8 years

- Follows complex directions without repetition

- Uses compound and complex sentences

- Carries on  an adult-like conversation