Receptive & Expressive Language Skills

0-3 MONTHS

  • Smiles at the sound of your voice
  • Makes cooing, gurgling sounds
  • Turns heads toward direction of sound
  • Communicates hunger, fear, discomfort (through crying or facial expression)

3-6 MONTHS

  • Begins to respond to the word “no”
  • Responsive to changes in your tone of voice and to sounds other than speech
  • Babbles in a speech-like way and uses many different sounds, including sounds that begin with p, b, and m

6-12 MONTHS

  • Begins to respond to the word “no”
  • Turns and looks in the direction of sounds
  • Responds to sound by making sounds
  • Uses voice to express joy and displeasure
  • Knows familiar faces
  • Understands words for common items such as “cup,” “shoe,” or “juice”
  • Responds to requests such as “come here” or “want more?”
  • Communicates using gestures such as waving or holding up arms

12-18 MONTHS

  • Tries to “talk” with you through babbling
  • Tries to imitate words
  • Says “dada” and “mama”
  • Uses exclamations, such as “oh-oh!”
  • Recognizes family members’ names
  • Follows simple commands like “roll the ball”
  • Responds to “no”
  • Uses simple gestures, such as shaking head for “no”

18-24 MONTHS

  • Knows a few parts of the body and can point to them when asked
  • Understands simple questions like “where’s your shoe?”
  • Enjoys simple stories, songs, and rhymes
  • Points to pictures, when named, in books
  • Acquires new words on a regular basis
  • Uses some one- or two-word questions like “where kitty?” or “go bye-bye?”
  • Puts two words together like “more cookie,” or “no juice”
  • Asks specifically for his/her mother or father
  • Uses “hi,” “bye,” and “please,” with reminders
  • Requests items or actions by pointing or by using one word
  • Directs another’s attention to an object or action
  • Laughs at silly actions (ex. wearing a bowl as a hat)

24-36 MONTHS

  • Points to 5-6 parts of a doll when asked
  • Uses 2-3 word sentences to verbalize desires and feelings
  • Asks for information about an object (ex. “shoe?” while pointing to shoe box)
  • Hums or tries to sing
  • Listens to short rhymes
  • Likes to imitate parents
  • Takes turns in play with other children
  • Treats a doll or stuffed animal as though it were alive
  • Refers to self by name and uses “me” and “mine”
  • Knows some spatial concepts such as “in,” “on”
  • Knows descriptive words such as “big,” “happy”
  • Begins to use plurals such as “shoes” or “socks” and regular past tense verbs such as “jumped”
  • Follows two-step directions

36-48 MONTHS

  • Groups objects such as foods, clothes, etc.
  • Identifies colors
  • Able to describe the use of objects such as “fork,” “car,” etc.
  • Uses verbs that end in “ing,” such as “walking” and “talking”
  • Answers simple questions such as “what do you do when you are hungry?”
  • Matches objects that have same function (as in putting a cup and plate together)
  • Speaks in sentences of five to six words
  • Understands the concepts of “same” and “different”
  • Tells stories
  • Follows three-part commands (ex. “Put the toys away, wash your hands, and come eat.”)
  • Recalls parts of a story

48-60 MONTHS

  • Understands the concepts of “big,” “little,” “tall,” “short
  • Able to identify situations that would lead to happiness, sadness, or anger
  • Uses “a,” “an,” and “the” when speaking
  • Asks direct questions like “may I?” and “would you?”
  • Wants explanations of “why” and “how”
  • Relates a simple experience s/he has had recently
  • Often prefers playing with other children to playing alone, unless deeply involved in a solitary task
  • Speaks sentences of more than five words
  • Uses future tense

Data for all developmental milestones collected from the following:

http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/growth/aaslm.html

http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/devel2.htm

http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted101/p/milestones.htm

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