Below you will find a list of communication skills that children should be exhibiting at each particular age.
By 6 months, your child should:
Receptive Skills
- Respond to stern intonation
- Startle response to loud or sudden noise
- Turn head toward and look at speaker
- Watch lips and mouth of speaker
Expressive Skills
- Produce early babbling sounds (ba, ma)
- Produce vocal play with toys (squeals, growls, raspberries)
- Smile and make noise when spoken to
- Vocalize (laugh, giggle, cry, or fuss) to sounds
By 12 months, your child should:
Receptive Skills
- Answer questions by shaking head for no; nodding for yes
- Begin to understand a few familiar words such as mommy, daddy, bye-bye, cup
- Give toy in hand on request
- Pat image of self in mirror
- Respond to music with body movement
- Respond to No
- Wave bye-bye in response to goodbye
Expressive Skills
- Have a vocabulary of 1-3 words
- Have adult-like intonation
- Produce and/or imitate babbling (ba-ba-ba or ma-ma-ma)
- Produce more consonants sounds (p, t, n, d)
- Produce uh-oh exclamation
- Say bye-bye on request
By 18 months, your child should:
Receptive Skills
- Have a receptive vocabulary of 300+ words
- Identify 1-3 simple body parts by pointing
- Name at least 5 objects (not in imitation)
- Point to common objects when named
- Respond to simple commands (get ball, come here)
Expressive Skills
- Use 2-word combinations
- Name some body parts
- Use a combination of jargon and true words
- Use rising intonation (me go?)
- Use words to express wants & needs
By 24 months, your child should:
Receptive Skills
- Follows simple commands & answers simple questions
- Has a receptive vocabulary of 500-1000 words
- Identify more than 5 body parts
- Point to five or more pictures
- Respond to some yes/no questions
- Understand prepositions in and on
Expressive Skills
- Ask "wh" questions (where momma go?)
- Name at least 20 everyday objects (chair, fork, car)
- Produce most vowels and the consonants: m, b, p, k, g, w, h, n, t, d
- Request items by name
- Use 50 to 250 or more words
- Say No
Other information that you may be asked about if take your child in for an evaluation:
Has your child had a hearing screening?
Family history of speech and/or language delay?
Does your child seem frustrated (knows what he/she wants, but cannot say it)?
Is your child showing any behaviors that might be related to a difficulty with communication? For example:
- Biting self or other children.
- Frequent fighting with other children.
- Extreme independence (will try to do everything for him/herself without asking for help).
Does your child demonstrate aversion to certain tastes and textures or have any difficulties with sucking, chewing, and/or swallowing food?
