What Speech Development Skills Should Your Child Learn At Each Age?

Being a parent can be an incredibly joyful and rewarding experience.

It’s full of firsts: first laugh, first words, first steps.

Watching your little one grow and learn about the world around them is a source of pride and joy for new parents.

When you think of developmental milestones, what probably comes to mind are things like sitting up on their own, crawling, and taking their first steps.

But there are also speech milestones children will meet as the learn how to communicate with the people they interact with.

Today we’re going to look at speech developmental milestones, and when they should be reached by.

And if you’re noticing your child isn’t developing at the pace you’d expect based on this, Voz Speech Therapy is a pediatric speech therapist in DC – we can help get them back on track.

Let’s now look at what some developmental speech milestones and by what age your child is expected to reach them.

Keep reading for more information on speech milestones.

What Do Developmental Milestones Mean?

Developmental milestones are tasks which the majority of children are able to do by a certain age.

Although today we are focusing on speech and language related milestones, some other categories of developmental milestones include:

• Cognitive milestones
• Gross motor skills
• Fine motor skills
• Social, emotional and behavioral skills

Speech milestones are important because they will guide how your child communicates with the world around them.

If these milestones are not being met, it could be an indication of a larger issue.

What Are Examples Of Speech Developmental Milestones In Kids?

As your child gets older, there are certain milestones they will be expected to meet.

These include speech development, let’s have a look at what milestones you should expect to see at varying points of development.

At 3 Months Of Age

Once your child reaches three months, common milestones include:

• Recognition of your and other caregivers’ voices
• Smiling when you speak to them
• Cooing sounds
• Smiling when they see you
• Varying cries depending on their need

At 6 Months Of Age

Some milestones you may see once your child reaches six months of age include:

• Making a range of sounds, including babbling
• Recognizing changes in your tone
• Producing gurgling sounds during play
• Recognizing music
• Moving their eyes to look towards the source of sounds
• Noticing sounds that toys make

At 12 Months Of Age

At twelve months, your child should be able to:

• Mimic speech sounds from those around them (even if it’s mostly babbling)
• Know what “no” and “yes” means
• Turn their body in response to sounds, to look towards them
• Say simple words like “mama” or “dada”
• Understand and say words for common items, such as “dog” or “cat” or “spoon”
• Start using gestures to communicate (waving hello, for example)
• Follow simple commands, such as “come here” or “sit still”

At 18 Months Of Age

Once your child reaches eighteen months, they will likely be able to:

• Recognize and say up to ten words
• Answer a simple question using non verbal means
• Understand and follow simple commands given with gestures
• Know people’s names, and the words for objects, and body parts

At 24 Months Of Age

At twenty four months, or two years of age, your child should be able to:

• Follow basic directions, and answer simple questions
• Know at least fifty words
• Say basic, simple phrases such as “milk please”
• Mimic animal noises
• Uses words well enough that parents and caregivers can understand them
• Ask one and two word questions like “where’s mama?”

At 3 Years Old

By three years old, some milestones to watch for in your child include:

• Being able to form simple, three word sentences
• Understanding simple spatial ideas, such as “on” or “in”
• Being able to understand and answer basic questions
• Understanding pronouns like “his” or “me”, and can use them
• Understanding how to use the plural form of words
• Understanding basic descriptor words such as “sad” or “small”

At 4 Years Old

Once your child is four years old, they should be able to:

• Enjoy and understand simple poetry
• Group similar objects (like colors or shoes) together
• Answer basic questions
• Repeat sentences they’ve heard
• Use the majority of speech sounds (some more difficult sounds such as ‘th’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘s’, and ‘r’ may take longer to master)
• Use verbs that end in “ing”
• Recognize and identify colors
• Be understood by people other than close caregivers
• Express feelings and ideas through words
• Pronounce consonants in words

At 5 Years Old

By age five, your child should be able to:

• Describe the steps involved in doing things
• Follow up to three simple directions at a time
• List items in similar categories
• Understand concepts that refer to space, such as “in front” and “beside”
• Understand sequences of events (for instance what happened first, and last)
• Understand more complex questions
• Make up stories using their imagination
• Form sentences of eight words or longer
• Be fully understood by others (though they may still have trouble with longer, multi syllable words
• Understand rhyming, and rhyme words themselves
• Describe objects in closer detail
• Answer “why” questions
• Fully participate in age appropriate conversations

What If Your Child Isn’t Meeting Their Speech Developmental Milestones?

If your child seems to be missing or not meeting their speech milestones on a regular basis then it could mean they have a speech delay.

On one hand, if they seem to be missing the odd milestone here and there, but generally catching up pretty quickly, it might not be anything to worry about.

However, if they are consistently missing milestones, and not catching up, it can be indicative of a larger issue.

Speech delays can be the result of many different things.

These include:

• Hearing impairment
• Learning disabilities
• Autism spectrum disorder
• And others

If this is the case, early intervention speech therapy is critical.

Research has shown time and time again that early intervention speech therapy is more effective than waiting to see if your child will “grow out of it.”

Because the truth is, they might, or they might not.

But unless you book a speech therapy evaluation for them, you won’t know.

So if you do notice your child has some speech delay issues, it’s a good idea to…

Book Your Appointment With Voz Speech Therapy Today

Is your child not speaking at the same rate as other children their age?

Maybe you’re worried because by the time their older sibling was their age, they were already speaking in sentences.

Or perhaps their friends seem to have a better grasp of language.

At Voz Speech Therapy, we can help.

We know that early intervention when speech delays are noticed is critical.

Early intervention can help children develop the speech skills they need to communicate.

Book your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today.