Although all children develop at different rates, you can expect certain language milestones ““ outlined by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association ““ that typically developing children should be hitting. Luckily, parents can employ several strategies to help their children.
Here is a breakdown:
Language is measured in two ways: receptive and expressive. Receptive is what the child can understand, and expressive is what the child can produce.
| Age |
Receptive |
Expressive |
Birth ““
6 months |
- Quiets or smiles when spoken to
- Moves eyes to the direction of sound
- Responds to change in voice tone
|
- Makes “cooing” sounds
- Smiles when he or she sees you
- Cries differently for different reasons
- Laughs
|
6 months ““
12 months |
- Enjoys games like peek-a-boo and patty cake
- Recognizes common words, like “cup” or “shoe”
- Begins to respond to requests, such as “come here”
|
- Uses non-crying sounds to get attention
- Uses gestures to communicate
- Can say one to two words around first birthday
|
12 months ““
18 months |
- Follows simple commands, like “roll the ball”
- Listens to simple stories and songs
|
- Uses different consonant sounds at the beginning of words
|
18 months ““
24 months |
- Points to body parts when asked
- Points to pictures in a book when named
|
- Puts two words together, such as “more cookie”
- Asks questions, such as “what’s that?”
|
You can help your little one reach his or her milestones:
| Age |
What you can do |
| 6 months ““ 12 months |
- Check your child’s ability to hear, especially if he or she has frequent ear infections
- Reinforce communication attempts by looking at your baby and imitating vocalizations
- Teach your baby to imitate actions (peek-a-boo, clapping, waving); these teach turn-taking needed for conversation
- Talk out things you are doing and what you see
- Talk about oclors
- Practice counting (count fingers and toes or steps you take)
- Teach animal sounds
|
| 18 months ““ 24 months |
- Use simple, but grammatical, speech that is easy for your child to imitate
- Expand on your child’s responses, for example, expand “car” with “You’re right ““ that’s a big, red car”
- Find time to read to you child every day; look for books with large pictures and one or two words
- Take time to describe the pictures on each page when reading
- Ask your child to name pictures with you
- Teach shapes
|
If your child is not reaching these milestones, contact his or her pediatrician for a referral to a licensed speech-language pathologist. Early intervention is key to successfully treating language deficits.
“We’ll tell parents that if they have any concerns or feel like the child is not 75 percent intelligible to an unknown listener, meaning a stranger couldn’t make out most of what the child is saying, they need to get a referral,” said Michelle Brueckner, speech pathology coordinator at St. Elizabeth Healthcare.
