Children’s Language Milestones

6 Month
Milestones

• Beginning to make ‘ah’ ‘eh’ ‘oh’ sounds

• Respond to cooing

• Responds to their name

Act early if your child is not:

• Making ‘ah eh oh’ sounds

• Responding to sounds around

9 Month Milestones

• Copies sounds and gestures

• Begins to babble: String sounds together: ‘baba’ ‘bebe’ ‘dada’

• Uses fingers to point

Act early if your child does not:

• Babble

• Look where you point

• Recognising their own name

12 Months
Milestones

• Use more non verbal communication, such as;
  Pointing at things, shaking their head and waving goodbye.

• Start to understand some family members names and words.

• Your child MAY say their first word.

Act early if your child does not:

• Point at things

• Say simple words like mama and dada

• Use simple gestures like waving or shaking head.

18 Month
Milestones

• Says several single words

• Uses non-verbal communication such as;

• Pointing and shaking head to say no

• Understand simple commands.

Act early if your child does not:

• Copy others.

• Understand simple instructions.

• Have at least 6 words

• Gain new words

2 Year
Milestones

• Follows simple instruction

• 50 or more words

• Repeats words in a conversation

• Combine 2 words together, ‘more juice’

• 50% of Speech is understandable by a family member.

3 Year Milestones

• Follows instructions

• 200 or more words

• Combine 3 words together.

• Name most familiar things

• Begin to say , ‘i’, ‘me’, ‘we’, ‘you’

• 75% of Speech is understandable by a family member.

Act early if your child does not:

• Understand simple instructions

• Speak in sentences

• Have intelligible speech or drools
  *Loses skills once had

4 Year
Milestones

• 250 - 500 words.

• Speaks in sentences

• Asks questions and tells stories

• Knows basic grammar and uses he and she

Act early if your child does not:

• Have intelligible speech

• Struggling to ask questions

• Only speaks in 3 word sentences

Why are Milestones Important?

Milestones are guidelines that help identify when a child is struggling with an area of development.

Children develop at their won pace so not meeting a milestone shouldn’t cause alarm but you should speak to your family doctor to arrange a referral.

It is best not to assume your child will grow out of it, the early years are a critical period for language development. Early intervention has excellent results and is more cost affective.

Wait and See?

Family and friends may know a late talker who caught up on their own and suggest the outdated ‘wait and see’ approach. Trust your gut, you know your child better than anyone.

Late language emergence can be an early warning sign that your child is struggling with their hearing or speech and language development. Some late talkers can catch up on their own, you should always consult a medical professional if you have concerns to rule out any hearing issues.

When should I contact a speech therapist?

Speak to your family Doctor, health visitor or find your local speech therapy association for assistance, if;

• You are worried

• Your child is behind their milestones

• Your child shows any of the act early signs

• Your child loses skills they once had

Speech therapy appointments can take time to get, while you are waiting, check out Speech Rocket to start using some speech therapy strategies at home TODAY.

A Message from ASHA’s President Theresa Rodgers

‘A wait and see approach is not successful. It is critical that we identify the signs early on that we can deliver early intervention, that we know is successful.’
Theresa Rodgers, President of American Speech-Language Hearing.

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