A Few Landmarks for Speech Development

Many first time parents are concerned about their child’s ability to talk.  Luckily, there has been a lot of research completed that has identified landmarks that can be used to see where your child’s speech development falls on the spectrum.  Here are just a few major speech milestones that are commonly accepted:

• Babies less than one year old.  During the first year, most babies spend a lot of time babbling and cooing.  By the time they are near the nine month mark, babies may be able to add a few sounds together to create words such as “mama” and “dada.”  Even when babies aren’t speaking, it should be clear that they are reacting to sounds in their environment.

• One year to fifteen months.  A child’s babbling ability by this age includes many different sounds and they generally have one or more words in their vocabulary.  You may find that your child can say simple words and can follow basic directions when asked to by a parent.

• By the age of two years old.  By the time a child hits two years old, they may have a vocabulary of up to fifty words!  You may even notice that your child can string two or more words together to make a simple sentence, such as “me drink,” when they want something.  Two year olds can usually identify basic objects in their environment and in books or online and should be able to point to their own body parts, such as eyes and ears.

• Once they are three years old.  By the time your child is three, they should be saying so many words that you can no longer keep a count of their vocabulary.  They should also be able to follow basic directions and understand colors.

Do you have questions or concerns about your own child’s speech development?  Give the friendly staff at Peak Potential Therapy a call today and talk to us about your worries.  We would be happy to help you determine what next steps to take and even offer you a convenient time for an assessment.  Call now!