Age-Appropriate Speech and Language Milestones

Coos

Vocalizes pleasure and displeasure sounds differently (laughs, giggles, cries, or fusses)

Makes noise when talked to

Understands "no-no"

Babbles (says "ba-ba-ba")

Says "ma-ma" or "da-da" without meaning

Tries to communicate by actions or gestures

Tries to repeat your sounds

Says first word

Answers simple questions nonverbally

Says 2 to 3 words to label a person or object (pronunciation may not be clear)

Tries to imitate simple words

Vocabulary of four to 6 words

Vocabulary of 50 words, pronunciation is often unclear

Asks for common foods by name

Makes animal sounds, such as "moo"

Starting to combine words, such as "more milk"

Begins to use pronouns, such as "mine"

Uses 2-word phrases

Knows some spatial concepts, such as "in" or "on"

Knows pronouns, such as "you," "me" or "her"

Knows descriptive words, such as "big" or "happy"

Uses 3-word sentences

Speech is becoming more accurate, but may still leave off ending sounds. Strangers may not be able to understand much of what is said.

Answers simple questions

Begins to use more pronouns, such as "you" or "I"

Uses question inflection to ask for something, such as "my ball?"

Begins to use plurals, such as "shoes" or "socks" and regular past tense verbs, such as "jumped"

Groups objects, such as foods or clothes

Identifies colors

Uses most speech sounds, but may distort some of the more difficult sounds, such as l, r, s, sh, ch, y, v, z, th. These sounds may not be fully mastered until age 7 or 8.

Uses consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words. Some of the more difficult consonants may be distorted, but attempts to say them

Strangers are able to understand much of what is said

Able to describe the use of objects, such as "fork" or "car"

Has fun with language; enjoys poems and recognizes language absurdities, such as, "Is that an elephant on your head?"

Expresses ideas and feelings rather than just talking about the world around him or her

Uses verbs that end in "ing," such as "walking" or "talking"

Answers simple questions, such as "What do you do when you are hungry?"

Repeats sentences

Understands spatial concepts, such as "behind" or "next to"

Understands complex questions

Speech is understandable, but makes mistakes pronouncing long, difficult, or complex words, such as "hippopotamus"

Uses some irregular past tense verbs, such as "ran" or "fell"

Describes how to do things, such as painting a picture

Lists items that belong in a category, such as animals or vehicles

Answers "why" questions

Understands time sequences (for example, what happened first, second, or third)

Carries out a series of 3 directions

Understands rhyming

Engages in conversation

Sentences can be 8 or more words in length

Uses compound and complex sentences

Describes objects

Uses imagination to create stories