Milestones
Speech/Language Developmental Milestones
From birth to three months, your child should . . .
- Startle or cry at loud noises
- Stop moving and seem to listen to speech or sound
- Awaken at a loud sound
From three to six months, your child should . . .
- Look toward a sound or speaker
- Smile when spoken to
- Recognize mother's voice
- Enjoy rattles and other toys that make sounds
From six to nine months, your child should . . .
- Respond to his or her name
- Babble and make lots of different sounds
- Respond to "no"
From nine to 12 months, your child should . . .
- Turn to or look when name is called
- Listen to people talking
- Respond to simple commands-"give me," "come here"
- Understand "bye-bye"
- Be able to tell where sound is coming from
From 12 to 18 months, your child should . . .
- Point to objects or familiar people by name
- Imitate simple sounds or words
- Follow simple spoken directions
- Say two to three words by age one and eight to 10 words by 18 months
At one-and-a-half years, your child should . . .
- Hear you call from another room
- Hear and understand conversation easily-does not often ask you to repeat
- Hear television or music at the same loudness level as everyone else
- Hear quiet speech
- Have normal voice qualities
From two to three years, your child should. . .
- Understand differences in meaning such as: "go-stop," "in-out," "big-little," "up-down"
- Follow two-part requests like, "get the book and put it on the table"
- Have a spoken vocabulary of at least 150 words
- Begin to use simple two-word sentences
- Should be able to speak understandably to adults who are not with the child daily
- Should be able to sit and listen to read-aloud picture books
From three to four years, your child should. . .
- Hear you when you call from another room
- Hear the television or radio at the same loudness level as other family members
- Answer simple who, what, where, and why questions
- Use spoken language constantly to express wants, reflect emotions, convey information, and ask questions
- Understand nearly all that is said
From four to five years, your child should. . .
- Pay attention to a short story and answer simple questions about it
- Hear and understand most of what is said at home and in school
- Grow vocabulary from 1,000 to 2,000 words
- Use complex and meaningful sentences
- Be able to hear clearly and understand all speech sounds
