Developmental Milestones

 

By 6 months old:

• Sucks well with lips and inner mouth parts
• Coos, gurgles, chuckles, laughs, begins babbling
• Fixes eyes on face
• Looks in response to own name
• Moves eyes toward source of sound

 

By 12 months old:

• Uses m,n,t,d,b,p,z while babbling multiple syllables
• Looks at some common objects when named
• Jabbers loudly-often during play
• Closes mouth without drooling
• May acquire first true word
• Understands and follows simple commands/requests
• Drinks from cup

 

By 18 months old:

• Uses sentence-like intonations during jargon
• Basically unintelligible excepts for few words
• Points to objects recognized or wanted
• Uses 3-30 words (“all gone”)
• Understands emotions of others

 

By 2 years old:

• More words than jargon (about 50 words)
• Asks questions with rising intonation
• Says own name on request
• Combines 2 words into phrase (“go bye-bye”)
• Understands approx. 300 words
• Points to 5 body parts on self or doll
• Begins to use some verbs and adjectives
• Approx. 65% intelligible

 

By 3 years old:

• Uses p,b,m,w,h,n most accurately
• Still some substitutions and distortions of consonants
• About 80% intelligible
• Knows in/on/under and big/little
• Matches colors
• Answers/asks simple questions
• Uses “is”, pronouns, possessive (‘s)

 

By 3 ½ years old:

• P, b, m, w, h mastered
• K, g, t, d, ng, s, r, y used consistently but may not be mastered
• Understands 1200 words
• Knows ‘in front of’ and ‘behind’
• Identifies hard/soft, rough/smooth, square/circle
• Responds to commands involving 2 actions
• Able to match sets
• Uses 800 words
• Beginning of question asking stage-mainly “what” and “who”
• Names 8-10 pictures
• Uses is, are, am in sentences
• Uses “and” as conjunction

 

By 4 years old:

• L, sh, and j are used correctly
• Becoming very intelligible in connected speech
• Comprehends1500 to 2000 words
• Knows front and back of clothes
• Uses 1000 to 1500 words
• Tells two events in order of sequence
• Repeats 12 to 13 syllable sentence 1 out of 3 trials
• Uses simple past tense consistently (walk/walked)
• Consistently uses “is –ing”
• Pronouns:  he, she, I, you, me, mine consistent
• Combines 4 to 5 words in sentences

 

By 5 years old:

• All sounds mastered except maybe v, th, l, zh, sh, z, s, r, and hw
• Speech errors present in difficult consonant blends (str, spr, thr)
• Answers complex comprehension questions
• Understands “opposite of”
• Knows heavy/light, loud/soft, like/unlike
• Understands 2500 words and uses 1500-2000 words
• Asks meanings of words
• Tells long story accurately
• Counts 10 objects
• Gives first/middle/last name
• Comparative (-er) emerging (“bigger”)

 

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