Speech and Language Milestones: Birth to Age 5

Milestones are helpful, but they get misread all the time. They are not a schedule your child is supposed to keep. They describe what most children are doing around a certain age, and "most" leaves a lot of room.

Use this as a general guide, not a scorecard.

Birth to 12 months

Long before the first word, your baby is building the foundation for it.

Many babies at this stage:

• Coo and make vowel sounds in the early months
• Babble strings of sounds like "bababa" or "dadada" by around six to nine months
• Turn toward sounds and voices
• Respond to their name by around nine months
• Use gestures like waving, reaching, or pointing
• Say a first word somewhere around their first birthday

12 to 18 months

Understanding runs ahead of talking at this age, and that is normal. Your child likely knows far more words than they can say.

Many toddlers at this stage:

• Use a handful of single words, often growing to ten or twenty by 18 months
• Follow simple one-step directions like "give me the ball"
• Point to things they want or want you to see
• Try to imitate words they hear

18 months to 2 years

This is often when vocabulary takes off.

Many children by their second birthday:

• Use around 50 words or more
• Start putting two words together, like "more milk" or "mama up"
• Point to familiar body parts or pictures when named
• Are understood by familiar adults about half the time

2 to 3 years

Sentences get longer and conversations start to feel like conversations.

Many children at this stage:

• Use two and three word phrases
• Ask simple questions
• Follow two-step directions like "get your shoes and bring them here"
• Are understood by familiar adults roughly three quarters of the time

3 to 4 years

Many children at this stage:

• Speak in sentences of four or more words
• Tell you about something that happened earlier in the day
• Ask a lot of questions, especially "why"
• Are mostly understood by people outside the family

4 to 5 years

Many children at this stage:

• Use longer, more detailed sentences with mostly adult-like grammar
• Tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end
• Are understood by almost everyone
• Are still working out a few trickier sounds. Sounds like r, s, l, and th often keep developing into the early school years, which is typical.

If your child is not doing these things

Take a breath first. A child can be behind on one item and completely fine.

What is worth attention is a broader pattern: several skills lagging at once, very little growth over several months, or skills that were there and then disappeared.

If any of that sounds like your child, it is reasonable to ask someone. Talk to your pediatrician, or reach out here and Nicole will follow up with you personally to talk it through.