Developmental Milestones: Language
During the first five years of a child’s life children are exploring, learning, and growing in many ways. You may notice your baby beginning to babble or saying small words and phrases, building social connections with family members and friends, and even exploring their environment more and more each day. These are all ways that babies and young children learn and believe it or not, it helps them build language! This article will highlight the stages of language development for children from birth to five years old.
Language Milestones:
Birth to 6 months
- Coos
- Turns head toward sounds
- Babbling
- Begins to copy sounds and expressions
- Responds to sounds by making sounds
- Recognizes and responds to his/her name
9 to 12 months
- Understands “no”
- Begins making sounds like “mamamama”, “dadadada”, and “babababa”
- Uses simple gestures like shaking head “no” or waving “bye-bye”
- Tries to mimic words that you say
18 months to 2 years
- Says several single words
- Points to show what they want and things or pictures that are named
- Begins saying 2 to 4 word sentences
- Follows simple instructions
3 to 5 years
- Follows instructions that have 2 to 3 steps
- Talks well enough for others to understand most of the time
- Carries on a conversation using 2 to 3 sentences
- Tells stories
- Can say his/her first and last name
Please know that all babies and children are different and they develop at their own paces. While these milestones are helpful benchmarks, do not feel pressure if your child develops language at a slower pace. If you are concerned about your child’s development or any delays in speech, please contact your pediatrician. Pediatricians will regularly assess milestones at well-child visits and they can provide resources.
Remember: It is never too early to start talking, singing, and reading to your child! In fact, responding to their smiles, cries, and coos, reading books before bedtime, and singing along to your favorite lullaby helps to encourage language development.
