Home Parents Developmental Checklist

Young Babies

By 6 months most children will

  • make noises ( coos, gurgles, sounds)
  • turn toward sounds
  • watch your face when you talk
  • smile at you

14 to 16 month olds

By 12 to 14 months most children will

  • understand their own name
  • understand words like bye-bye, up, or come
  • say sounds like ba-ba, na-na, ga-ga
  • laugh, and try to make sounds like you do
  • say 2 to 5 words - but not clearly

18 month olds

By 18 months most children will

  • understand simple directions (Where is your nose? Show me your shoe)
  • learn new words weekly
  • use words, sounds, or gestures to tell you what they want
  • look for things when asked (Go find your ball)
  • say about 20 words

24 month olds

By 24 months most children will

  • say 2 words together like more milk or my hat
  • understand more than they can say
  • play with toys and pretend to do activities like feed a doll

2 to 3 year olds

From 2 to 3 years most children will

  • use short sentences (me do it or daddy going car)
  • listen to stories and answer simple questions
  • have a conversation with family members or other familiar people

By 3 years most children will not need their parents to interpret for them

3 to 4 year olds

From 3 to 4 years most children will

  • use sentences of 4 to 6 words with adult-like grammar
  • give directions (fix this for me)
  • ask many questions like what, where, why?
  • tell about things they have done in the past
  • talk to themselves and their toys
  • tell a story or sing a song

5 year olds

By 5 years most children will

  • participate in long, detailed conversations
  • use sentences almost like an adult's
  • be able to say most speech sounds correctly
  • follow multi-step related directions like Get your crayons, make a picture and put it on the fridge

Contact us if your child

  • is not communicating as we described here
  • has an odd or different sounding voice
  • has pronunciation problems
  • is embarassed by his or her own speech
  • is stuttering
  • has play or social skills that seem inappropriate
  • has a high risk history or a diagnosis such as cleft palate, hearing loss, or autism spectrum