Are My Child’s Language Skills Normal? Compare your child to the standards listed below.
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Age Ranges |
Minimal Expectations (If your child cannot perform these skills by the end of the age range, an immediate referral to an early intervention program or speech-language pathologist is warranted.) |
Typical Expectations (Most children can perform these skills by the end of the age range. In other words, this is “typical” or “normal” development.) |
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0-3 months |
-Communicates with cries, grunts, and facial expressions -Prefers human voices -Coos using vowel sounds -May laugh out loud -Smiles and coos to initiate and sustain interactions with caregivers |
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4-6 months |
-Vocalizes & coos in response to adults talking or singing -Blows raspberries -Smiles in response to pleasant speech |
-Begins to babble using consonant-vowel combinations -Participates in games initiated by adults with smiles, laughter, and vocalizations -Acquires sounds of native language in babble -Squeals & laughs out loud -Recognizes his name |
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6-9 months |
-Vocalizes using different sounding and two syllable combinations -Begins to imitate duplicated syllables when modeled by an adult (“Mamamama” or “Bubububu”)
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-Varies babbling in loudness, pitch, and rhythm -Adds more consonants sounds to babbling -May begin to say “mama” or “dada” but may not connect word with parent yet -Begins to point or use other gestures like reaching to communicate -Responds to “no” sometimes |
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9-12 months |
-Imitates sounds or words made by others -Gives objects in response to a request with outstretched hand -Performs routine activity in response to verbal request (“Put your arm in.”) -Participates in games such as “So Big” and “Peekaboo” with excitement and performs his part
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-Uses gestures more purposefully to influence the behavior of others -Understands 25 or more words -Begins to understand familiar words associated with routines & interests -Waves bye-bye -Says 5 words on his own -Imitates other familiar words -Initiates favorite games with adults |
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12-15 months |
-Tries to say a few words on his own such as “Mama” or Dada” or exclamatory words like “uh-oh” and “no-no” -Imitates new words & animal sounds -Performs simple requests such as giving a kiss and waving bye-bye. -Identifies a few body parts |
-Says 10 words on his own consisting mostly of nouns and names -Understands words and directions associated with familiar routines -Understands a few early prepositions with cues |
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15-18 months |
-Uses words more often with a minimum of 8-10 word vocabulary -Echoes last word spoken by an adult -Names several familiar objects on request -Points to 6 body parts or clothing items -Finds familiar objects not in sight on request |
-Language explosion occurs by the end of this phase so that he is saying many more words than before -Normal range of vocabulary is between 15 and 50 words -Begins to engage in “jargon” or unintelligible sentence-length utterances -Begins to imitate two-word phrases & use a few familiar combinations on his own such as “more milk” or “Bye-bye Dada” -Understands at least 50 words & follows many familiar commands -Can point to a few familiar pictures on request |
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18-21 months |
-Minimum vocabulary of 15 words -Names a few pictures -Points to familiar pictures on request |
-Understands 150 words -Typical vocabulary is 50+ words -Adds new words everyday (Some sources say 7-9 new words a day!) -Uses new & different two-word phrases |
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21-24 months |
-Minimum vocabulary of 50 words -Says two-word phrases on his own -Follows many different and new verbal directions |
-Speaks in 2-3 word phrases frequently -Refers to himself by name -Comprehends 300 words & can follow two-step related commands -Vocabulary size is around 200 words he says on his own -Is understood at least 25% of the time by parents -Uses many different consonant sounds and all vowel sounds correctly |
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24-27 months |
-Sings phrases of songs -Names objects in photographs -Begins to use a few action words/verbs -Can point to more complex ideas in pictures (“Who is running?”) |
-Uses 3 word phrases frequently -Understands size concepts -Understands concept of one |
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27-30 months |
-Speaks in short phrases most of the time -Parents understand at least 50% of what he says |
-Names colors -Consistently refers to himself using a pronoun -Follows more complex verbal commands |
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30-33 months |
-Answers questions with an accurate “yes” or “no” -Uses prepositions (in, on, out, off, up, down) -Understands and correctly states gender (“Are you a boy/girl?”) -States first and last name -Uses negation (“not sleeping”) -Understands size differences (big/little) -Understands object functions (“Which one do you wear on your feet?”) |
-Speaks in 4-5 word sentences more often. -Starts to take more turns talking in early “conversations” |
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33-36 months |
-Uses verb forms (-ing) -Asks & Answers “ Who, what, where” questions -Counts to 3 -Recites a few nursery rhymes/songs -Identifies parts of an objects (“Show me the wheels on the car.) -Vocabulary increases to 300+ words -Is understood by parents 90% of the time |
-Uses 4-5 word sentences consistently with correct word order. - Displays effective conversational skills such as asking and answering many kinds of questions including list to the left and “How” and “Why?” -Refers to himself using pronouns in sentences
-Understands and correctly uses gender pronouns (he/she, him/her) -Talks about objects and events not immediately present -Narrates & pretends with more elaborate pretend play schemes (going to doctor or shopping) |
