Developmental Age Norms

What skills should I expect my child to have at what age? When is it appropriate to seek treatment?

Speech-language pathologists follow developmental age norms. Children are expected to meet certain milestones at various chronological ages. Below is a list of skills you should expect to see from your child at different levels of development.

In infancy:

  • your child should respond to his or her name and sounds in the environment

  • your child should make noises to express pleasure or displeasure, may have different cries for hunger, pain

  • your child should be interested in faces and display first smiles between 6 and 12 weeks of age

  • your child should babble, coo and experiment with making noises between the ages of 6 to 9 months

Speech and language development begins in infancy and continues throughout childhood. Many non-verbal skills such as eye contact, gestures, pointing and vocalizations need to be in place before first words even emerge.

By age one:

  • your child should recognize his or her name

  • your child has 2 to 3 words, says mama or dada

  • your child is able to point to familiar objects, "where's the car?"

  • your child should make eye contact and show interest in playing and engaging with you

By 18 months:

  • your child should have first words or a vocabulary of 10 to 20 words

  • your child should understand "no"

  • your child should have beginning sounds of most words such as the b "ball" and m in "more." If initial sounds are consistently omitted, it is cause for concern.

  • your child should have a wide repertoire of vowel and consonant sounds. If your child uses mostly vowel sounds when speaking "I uh oo ee" for "I want cookie," evaluation is appropriate

  • your child should be able to follow simple one step directions such as "bring me your cup"

By 2 years:

  • your child should have about 50 words in their vocabulary

  • your child is putting two words together to make a phrase such as "more juice?' or "go car"

  • your child is able to follow two step directions such as "bring me your socks and shoes"

  • your child should know a few body parts

  • your child should use words, paired with gestures to communicate needs and wants. If your child uses "uh' and is dependent on gestures/pulling you toward what is wanted to make requests, talk to your pediatrician about assessment.

By 3-4 years:

  • your child's speech should be understood by non-family members at least 75% of the time

  • your child should be able to appropriately respond to what, where, who, when questions

  • your child should be using pronouns correctly

  • your child should be able to sequence and retell a short, simple story

  • your child should be able to answer questions about a story that's been read to them

  • your child should understand spatial concepts in, out, on, off, over, under, front, back, behind, next to, between

By 5 years:

  • your child has a very large vocabulary, is able to use 6 to 10 word sentences that give detail

  • your child is able to understand and sequence time concepts (what happens first, second, third?)

  • your child uses adult grammatical forms, such as "we went to the store" instead of "we goed to the store"

  • your child use imagination in play

  • your child is able to maintain a conversation

Untreated communication issues can create long-term problems. It is important to seek an evaluation if your child is not meeting given milestones. Call to discuss if you have concerns!


Glossary of terms:

  • Articulation disorder: trouble saying the sounds of speech correctly "wabbit for rabbit"

  • AAC or Alternative and Augmentative Communication. Some children and adults are dependent on speech generated devices to help them communicate

  • Phonological disorder: type of rule-based sound disorder where sound error patterns are evident; child consistently substitutes /t/ for a /k/, /d/ for a /g/

  • Resonance/voice disorder: when a child's voice quality is altered so that it is perceived as abnormal by the listener. Child may have hoarse, raspy voice quality from excessive screaming or yelling

  • Language Disorder: difficulty understanding language such as following directions, especially with increased complexity and abstraction, difficulty expressing one's thoughts -retelling, explaining, organizing thoughts

  • Fluency Disorder: repeating, blocking, stuttering on sounds, words or phrases

  • Childhood Apraxia of Speech: a motor-based type of articulation disorder in which the child has difficulty coordinating the motor movements necessary for speech

  • Pragmatic language disorder: difficulty using language for social purposes; may not understand non-verbal rules of language such taking turns in conversation, giving eye contact, responding to communication attempts