This is my favourite reference for parents when they want to know if their child's speech and language development on track. I love how there is a distinction between minimal expectations and typical expectations.
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.)
0-3 months
Typical Expectation
-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
4-6 months
Minimal Expectations
-Vocalizes & coos in response to adults talking or singing
-Blows raspberries
-Smiles in response to pleasant speech
Typical Expectation
-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
6-9 months
Minimal Expectations
-Vocalizes using different
sounding and two syllable combinations
-Begins to imitate duplicated syllables when modelled by an adult (“Mamamama” or “Bubububu”)
Typical Expectation
-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
9-12 months
Minimal Expectations
-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
Typical Expectation
-Uses gestures more purposefully to influence the behaviour of others
-Understands 25 or more words
-Begins to understand familiar words associated with routines & interests
-Waves bye-bye
-Let him says 5 words on his own
-Imitates other familiar words
-Initiates favourite games with adults
12-15 months
Minimal Expectations
-Tries to say a few words on his own such as “Mama” or “Dada” or exclamatory wordslike “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
Typical Expectation
-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
15-18 months
Minimal Expectations
-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
Typical Expectation
-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
18-21 months
Minimal Expectations
-Minimum vocabulary of 15 words
-Names a few pictures
-Points to familiar pictures on request
Typical Expectation
-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
21-24 months
Minimal Expectations
-Minimum vocabulary of 50 words
-Says two-word phrases on his own
-Follows many different and new verbal directions
Typical Expectation
-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
24-27 months
Minimal Expectations
-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”?)
Typical Expectation
-Uses 3 word phrases frequently
-Understands size concepts
-Understands concept of one
27-30 months
Minimal Expectations
-Speaks in short phrases most of the time
-Parents understand at least 50% of what he says
Typical Expectation
-Names colours
-Consistently refers to himself using a pronoun
-Follows more complex verbal commands
30-33 months
Minimal Expectations
-Answers questions with an accurate “yes” or “no”
-Uses plurals (books, shoes)
-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?)
Typical Expectation
-Speaks in 4-5 word sentences more often.
-Starts to take more turns talking in early conversations
33-36 months
Minimal Expectations
-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
Typical Expectation
-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)
Source: Laura Mize from Teach Me To Talk
If your child does not meet the minimal expectations for his/her age, feel free to schedule a free 15 min consult with me to find out how you can help your child.