| First three months |
- Becomes startled at loud noises
- Is soothed by calm, gentle voices
- Likes to cuddle and enjoys being held
- Cries, gurgles, grunts, says “ah”
- Sucks and swallows well
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| Warning signs |
- Your baby does not react to sound.
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| Four to six months |
- Watches your face with interest when you talk
- Tries to “talk” to you by cooing or babbling
- Enjoys “talking” with you and smiles at you
- Coos and squeals for attention
- Has a special cry when hungry
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| Warning signs |
- Your baby does not respond to your smiles and interactions.
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| Six months to 1st birthday |
- Understands some common words when used with gestures such as their name, “bye-bye,” “up” and “give me”
- Copies gestures such as waving bye-bye
- Copies different speech sounds such as “oh oh” and “wheee”
- Babbles using a variety of different sounds such as “bababa dididi upup bupbupbup”
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| Warning signs |
- Your child does not babble or try to talk.
- Your child has stopped babbling.
- Your child has had several ear infections.
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| Age 1 to 18 months |
- Understands simple questions/statements such as “Where is your nose?” and “Give me”
- Nods “yes” and shakes head for “no”
- Points to show interest in something or to ask for something
- Takes part in imaginative play such as pretending to go to sleep or putting toy phone to ear
- Babbles using a variety of sounds, which when put together sound like real sentences
- Says a few words, although they may not be clear
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| Warning signs |
- Your child does not talk at all.
- Your child does not interact with others.
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| 18 months to 2nd birthday |
- Understands simple questions such as “Where is mommy/daddy?” and “Where is your shoe?”
- Understands simple directions such as “Get your blanket.”
- Understands more words than can say
- Asks for a cookie or toy
- Says some two-word sentences such as “more juice,” “no night-night,” “daddy car.”
- Says “whatssat” a lot at about age two
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| Warning signs |
- Your child does not talk or uses more gestures than words.
- Your child does not appear to understand simple directions.
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| Age 2 to 3rd birthday |
- Answers simple questions such as “What’s your name?” and “Which one is the big doll?”
- Follows simple directions such as “Put the teddy bear to bed.”
- Puts a toy “in,” “on,” and “under” when asked
- Has a word for almost everything
- Uses two to three-word “sentences” to talk about and ask for things such as “That my truck,” “Puppy eat cookie,” “Doggy kiss me.”
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| Warning signs |
- Your child shows frustration when trying to talk.
- Your child’s speech is difficult for you to understand.
- Your child does not yet put two words together.
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| Age 3 to 4th birthday |
- Understands questions about a picture story such as “Where did the bunny go?”
- Follows two related directions such as “Close the book and give it to me.”
- Gives directions such as “Fix this for me.”
- Uses a lot of sentences that have four or more words
- Asks many questions such as “what,” “where” and “why”
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| Warning signs |
- Your child’s speech is difficult for strangers to understand.
- Your child has difficulty playing imaginary games with others.
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| Age 4 to 5th birthday |
- Follows three related directions such as “Get your crayons, make a picture and put it on the counter.”
- Understands concepts such as “top,” “bottom,” “beside,” and “behind”
- Tells stories and shares ideas about things that happened recently
- Explains meanings of words when asked
- Says most sounds correctly except for a few like l, r, th, ch, sh
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| Warning signs |
- Your child does not use complete and grammatically correct sentences.
- Your child stutters.
- Your child does not seem to be able to follow directions.
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