Does My Child Have a Delay?

Different children acquire speech and language skills at different ages and rates, and there is much variability within "normal" speech and language development. Listed below are speech and language milestones which may be used as a general guide as to when skills are acquired. This information is not meant to diagnose. If you have concerns about your child's speech and language development you should contact your pediatrician or a licensed speech-language pathologist.

Receptive Language Milestones

0-12 months

  • Responds to name.
  • Responds to 'no' most of the time.
  • Follows simple commands occasionally.
  • Attends to pictures and objects named in conversation.

12-24 months

  • Identifies body parts on self.
  • Finds familiar objects not in immediate sight.
  • Retrieves objects from another room.
  • Identifies pictures when named.
  • Follows 2-step related directions.

0-12 months

  • Understands early concepts for size, quantity, color and location.
  • Understands and responds to yes/no and simple what, where, who questions.
  • Identifies objects by function.

36-48 months

  • Understands between 1,500 and 2,000 words.
  • Comprehends more concepts for size, quantity, location and temporality.
  • Follows 2-3 step unrelated directions.
  • Understands simple what, where, who, why questions.

Expressive Language Milestones

0-12 months

  • Babbles with early consonant sounds /p,b,m,t,d,n/.
  • Imitates sounds, syllables and non-speech sounds.
  • Waves hi and bye-bye.
  • Points to objects.
  • Says mama or dada meaningfully.
  • Emergence of first words/approximations between 9 and 15 months.

12-24 months

  • Shakes head no.
  • Sings vocally or verbally.
  • Imitates new words frequently.
  • Uses 50 different words.
  • Imitates 2-3 word combinations.
  • Asks 'what's that?'.
  • Begins to combine 2 words together.

0-12 months

  • Uses 2-3 word phrases often.
  • Uses early pronouns (I, me).
  • Early grammatical structures appear (present progressive -ing, plural -s).
  • Counts to 3.
  • Begins to name colors.
  • States own name.
  • Uses size words and some early prepositions.

36-48 months

  • Uses 800+ words.
  • Sentence length continues to expand.
  • Asks simple what, where, who questions.
  • Uses regular past tense.
  • Uses third person pronouns (he, she, they).
  • Relates/tells a simple story.