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Watching a child grow to gain new skills is an exciting privilege. Parents are often asked the question about their children: “Is he/she talking yet?” “Talking” can look very different from one child to another and in the same child from one age to another. Milestones help us navigate answering the question: “Is he/she developing speech and language skills at the same rate as other children his/her age?”
Milestones are developmental stages or accomplishments. Basically, what a child should be doing at a certain age. Speech and language development begins in the womb while a baby is exposed to the speech of his/her mother all the way through adulthood when people continue to refine their skills. Milestone lists are compiled based on research of when children master certain skills. For example, 90% of children master the “k” sound by their 3rd birthday.
Why do milestones matter? Tracking developmental milestones in children helps parents and professionals determine if development is appropriate. If a child is not meeting milestones, it could signal a simple delay or sometimes a disorder requiring further medical attention.
Some basic “rule of thumb” milestones for early speech and language development include:
6 months-
*looks intently at a speaker
*takes turns “talking” by cooing and making simple babbling sounds
12 months-
*plays simple games like Peek-a-Boo0
*says a couple words in addition to “mama” and “dada”
*follows very simple and familiar directions
2 years-
*uses 2-word sentences
*understands simple questions
*has at least 50 words
*can say sounds: p, d, m, w, h, n
3 years-
*says hundreds of different words
*uses sentences regularly
*participates in simple conversations *understands concepts such as big/little, in/out, hot/cold
*strangers can understand about 75-80% of what they say
4 years-
*speech should be understood by strangers
*can tell stories
*regularly uses 5+ word sentences
Simply Speech, PLLC offers speech and language therapy services to children in Corpus Christi and online througout Texas.
For more specific lists of speech and language milestones, please visit: http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/chart.htm
