This page gives an outline of the communication developmental stages of infants and toddlers. Parents often want to know what to expect. Communication is so important - actual speech is just part of communication, as you will see.
3 months of age
Your baby should:
- be vocalising -having baby conversations with you
6 months of age
Your baby should:
- be babbling using vowel sounds, eg. "goo", "ga"
- be imitating sounds
- be able to laugh out loud
9 months of age
Your baby should:
- be smiling and laughing at you
- be turning to sounds
- be reaching for objects he wants
- be using his voice to get attention
12 months of age
If following the normal speech developmental stages of infants, your baby should:
- respond to his own name
- use sounds and even a few understandable words
- be able to play peek-a-boo and other games
- be able to use gestures like pointing
- be able to understand simple directions
- be able to let you know what he wants and what he doesn't want!
- be showing you things that interest him
15 months of age
Now your toddler should:
- be using lots of gestures and sounds
- be using some words to communicate
- be able to understand familiar words and phrases, like "where's daddy?" or "get your shoes"
- be able to play with a variety of toys, like blocks, dolls, cars, teddy bears etc
18 months of age
Your toddler should:
- use at least 10 words
- be able to make at least 5 different consonant sounds - for example: ba,ca,da,ga,la,ma,na,sha,ta,wa,ya
- be able to identify body parts when asked- eg. "show me your nose"
- imitate words
- use symbolic play - so pretend to feed a doll
21 months of age
Now, if following the normal speech developmental stages of infants and toddlers, your toddler should:
- use at least 25 different words
- be learning new words every week
- be able to identify several objects when named - eg. "where is the bike?"
24 months of age
Your toddler should:
- use at least 50 words
- be putting 2 words together - eg. "daddy home", "doggie gone"
- be able to recognise pictures in books
- be able to listen to simple stories
Concerns about Communication?
If your child is not following the normal speech developmental stages of infants and toddlers, there may be a problem, such as:
- Hearing problem - see your doctor for formal hearing tests if you think your child can't hear
- Communication Disorder - such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Children with these disorders usually fail to interact appropriately with other. To read more about communication disorders in young children, click here
- Developmental Delay - your child will usually be slow in other areas of development as well
However, most children I see where there is concern regarding speech are entirely normal.
If your child is slow to use words, but has good understanding and can make himself understood (so can get what he wants, by gestures or sounds), he is most likely normal and will speak normally in time.
Communication is more than just expressed words.
To go to the top of the Speech Developmental Stages of Infants and Toddlers page, click here
To go to the Development page, click here
To go to the First Words website, click here - This is a site from the Department of Communication Disorders at Florida State University - opens in a new window
To return to the Home page, click here
Last reviewed 24 January 2008
