Join us in celebrating the magic of language development in babies! From their first adorable “Dada” to the joyful moment they start picking up more words, it’s a journey filled with wonder. Dive into our comprehensive guide to learn about your child’s language milestones based on their age. Discover the joy of watching your little one blossom into a confident communicator! Here is a guide for you to see where your child’s speech and language milestones are:
Birth to 5 Months: Coos, Vocalizes pleasure and displeasure sounds differently (laughs, giggles, cries, or fusses), Makes noise when talked to
6 to 11 Months: 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
12 to 17 months: answers simple questions nonverbally, says 2-3 words to label a person or object (pronunciation may not be clear), tries to imitate simple words, has a vocabulary of 4-6 words
18-23 months: vocabulary of 50 words, pronunciation is often unclear, asks for common foods by name, makes animal sounds, such as “moo”, starts to combine words, such as “more milk,” begins to use pronouns, such as “mine”; and uses 2-word phrases.
2-3 years: knows some spatial concepts (in or on), knows pronouns (you, me, her), knows descriptive words (big, happy), uses 3-word sentences, speech is becoming more accurate, but may still leave off ending sounds, strangers may not understand much of what they are saying, answers simple questions, begins to use more pronouns (you, I), uses question inflection to ask for something (my ball?), and begins to sue plurals such as socks, shoes, and regular past tense verbs such as jumped.
3-4 years: groups objects (food or clothing), identifies colors, uses most speech sounds but may distort some more difficult sounds, uses consonants in the begging, middle, and end words, strangers understand what they are saying, is able to describe objects (fork/car), has fun with language, expresses ideas and feelings rather than just talking about the world around them, uses verbs that end in “ing” like walking or talking, answers simple questions like “what do you do when you are hungry?” and repeats sentences.
4 to 5 years: understands spatial concepts (behind or next to), understands complex questions, speech is understandable, uses some irregular past tense verbs (ran, fell), describes how to do things such as painting a picture, lists items that belong in a category such as animals or vehicles, and answers “why” questions.
5 Years: understands time sequences (what happened first, second, 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, and uses imagination to create stories.
There are so many levels to which a child’s language and speech development should be expected at different ages of their brain development. As the age develops properly and optimally, what we have experienced is children under Chiropractic care hit their milestones and sometimes, are ahead of where they are expected.
If your child is not hitting their milestones shared above, the first step we always recommend is have your child get an evaluation at our office. We can determine what is the root cause of why we are seeing the speech delay and then we can put a plan of action to help with proper brain development but also, remove any hurdles that may be holding them back from truly blossoming into their development for speech and language.
Book an appointment with us today!