Do You Know Speech Development?
by Karina Gonzalez, MS CCC-SLP
When many parents think of speech and language development,the first thing that comes to mind is talking. They know there’s a problem whenthe child reaches a certain age and is not talking! But speech and languagedevelopment begins very early on and involves more than just words. So as part of my ultimate mission to makeeveryone speech and language savvy, I have outlined the major stages oflanguage development for you to review, as well as activities that promotelanguage development, from birth to 3 years of age.
Birth to 3 months:
At this tender age, your child’s only needs are eating(lots of eating!), pooping (lots of pooping!) and sleeping (lots of sleeping!).At this stage your child is learning to adapt to the environment. There arelots of new sounds, visual stimuli, lots of touch (like wiping their bottomswith a cold wipie!), and movement, that will all help in the developmentof language. Here is what you willsee in speech-language development.
Auditory comprehension | Expressive language | Activities to promote development |
Startles to loud sounds | Cries differently for different needs. | Make lots of eye contact. |
Quiets when spoken to | Smiles when he sees you or during play | Talk to your baby when awake, during diaper changes, feeding, bath, etc. |
Seems interested in your voice | Makes a pleasure sound called cooing, “coooh, goooh” | Play with sounds (such as oooh, aaah, mamama, bababa). |
3 months to 6 months:
Wow! Your baby is a whole new person already! Stayingawake longer and is beginning to interact with you more. May also beinterested in toys, specially in his mouth! That’s right! your child wants toput everything in his mouth, blankets, toys, car keys, the dog’s tail! It can be anightmare! But mouthing is a very important part of speech and feeding development and the topic of myfuture blog, so I will not go into detail now, but just remember they needit, this is their way of learning about their environment and the structures ofthe mouth. Just be careful and keep an watchful eye for small parts, sharpobjects, etc.
Auditory comprehension | Expressive language | Activities to promote development |
Turns head towards direction of sound. | Babbling! Vocal productions sound more speech like...with sounds such as “bababa”, “mamama” | Respond to your child’s sounds and babbling. You can simply imitate what he is doing. |
Notices a toy with sound | Chuckles and laughs! Makes gurgling sounds and other sound play with his mouth and throat. | Continue to talk to your baby through the day. Talk slow, clearly and in short phrases. |
Pays attention to music | Mouthing of objects | Allow your baby to mouth safe objects, such as teething rings, his bib or blanket, toys, his hand etc. |
6 months to 8 months:
Can you believe your baby is doing so much already? And wehaven’t gotten to the first birthday yet! Here’s what you should see at thisstage of development.
Auditory comprehension | Expressive language | Activities to promote development |
Turns head to the direction of sounds. | Makes lots of sounds. | Play simple games like “peak-a-boo” and “patty-cake” |
Listens when spoken to. | Uses gestures to communicate such as pointing, and waving bye. | Read colorful books with few words. |
Starts to recognize some words like “bottle”, “ball”, “mama”, “daddy”. | Starting to use more syllables, “ba”, “da”, “ga”. | Play music and sing songs with lots of repetitive verses and rhyme, like “old McDonald”, “twinkle little star”, “itsy bitsy spider”. |
Begins to respond to name. | Tries to imitate your speech sounds. | Take your child to new places and situations . |
8 months-12 months:
This stage completes the first year of your baby’s life andit’s my favorite because this is when you should hear the first word! Hopefully it will be “mama” so shecan be proud, but it’s okay if it’s not, as you will be happy regardless of theword.
Auditory comprehension | Expressive language | Activities to promote development |
Begins to respond to simple request, like “come”, “up”, “want more”. | Says first words. | Teach your child the names of everyday items by repeating the names through out the day and in different phrases. |
Fully recognizes name. | Will shout to get your attention. | Continue to talk slow, clearly and with short phrases. |
Can now identify more objects and look in the direction of the object when named. | Imitates familiar words. | Continue with music, singing, and books. |
12 months-17 months:
.JPG)
Happy Birthday to your baby, who is now on the way totoddler years and already the communication skills have grown so much! Now yourbaby can...
Auditory comprehension | Expressive language | Activities to promote development |
Points to pictures, objects and family members. | Says 2-5 words including “mama” and “dada” | Continue to encourage words such as “mama”, “night-night”, “bye”, “more”. But do not pressure your baby to perform for you. |
Understands simple instructions. Gives a toy or object upon request. | Enjoys making the sounds of animals and things. | Encourage imitation games and songs with gestures like “peak-a-boo” and “head shoulders knees and toes”. Continue reading books and using nursery rhymes. |
Understands “no” and stops, at least momentarily. | Laughs often! | Continue to use short phrases when speaking to your child. Try to use only 2 words such as “bye dog” “more juice?” Be a good listener! And respond to the words your child says. |
17 months -23 months:
Did you know that by the time your child turns 2, he will understand over 300 words? and here’s what else...
Auditory comprehension | Expressive language | Activities to promote development |
Hears well and can discriminate sounds. | Uses 10-20 words, with new words every week and will reach past 50 words by 24 moths. | Read books frequently. |
Can point to his nose, toes, and eyes. | Begins to combine 2 word phrases like “all gone” “bye mama”. | Talk simply, slowly and clearly to your child. |
Brings you a familiar objects from another room when asked. | Points and gestures to show you a want or an event. | Perform activities that promote language development such as going for a walk, go to the park, go shopping, cook together. |
Recognizes pictures of family members or familiar objects. | Hums and may try to sing a simple song. | Look at your child when he talks to you. |
2-3 years old:
Your child is no longer a baby and can now communicate withlittle effort. Vocabulary has grown tremendously and is now talking in shortphrases. Language will continue to grow a great deal in thisyear of life, including:
Auditory comprehension | Expressive language | Activities to promote development |
Identifies body parts. | Has “conversations” with dolls or toys. | Be a good speech model. No “baby” talk. |
Uses finger to tell you age. | Uses “no” in a phrase, like “no more”. | Play a game in which you give your child directions to practice listening skills, such as “touch your head”, “pick up the ball”. |
Knows some spatial concepts like “on”, “up”, “in”. | Says his first name. | Avoid asking questions, and instead talk about what your child is doing |
Knows words that describe things such as “big”, “little”. | Has a vocabulary of 300+ words and speaks in phrases of 2-3 words. | You can now read books with more words and words with rhyme. |
Knows pronouns such as: “you”, “me”. | Asks to have needs met and will speak in phrases “I want more”. | Promote the learning of other words besides the name of objects, such as spatial terms (up, down, in, out), descriptive terms (big, dirty, happy), and pronouns (you, me, she). |
So you reviewed the information and you realize your childmight not be doing some of the milestones on his age bracket. Don’t panic!Every child develops at different paces, as long as your child is doing most ofthem, he should continue to learn with your help. However, if your child is notdoing most of the milestones, then you should first speak to your pediatrician,and suggest a speech and language evaluation.
I hope I have given you enough information that you canapply to your daily routines, as you can see there’s no set time of the day forspeech and language development, this is something that is done through out theday. Hopefully the activities I have provided can be easily applied to youreveryday routines.
Be sure to read all of our posts for more helpful information, and sign up to receive future updates to our blog.
Remember, I am here to help. If you have concerns about yourchild’s language development you can contact me at speakeatplay@gmail.com
Do you know what words your child needs to have in his/her vocabulary?
What I have discovered throughout the years as a speech-language pathologist is
that parents are great at teaching children the names of objects. I see many
toddlers that know the names of many animals, toys, body parts and even modes
of transportation. This is great! However, these kids have a difficult time
speaking in phrases. I find that they generally use 1 word to communicate and
seem to resort towards gestures for everything else they need to say. In order
for your child to combine words into phrases he needs to know many other words,
not just nouns. So if you are currently working on increasing your child’s vocabulary
be sure to include the following words in his/her repertoire. 
.JPG)
