If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing, determine if a screening test or in-depth diagnostic testing is needed at this time, and/or provide you with possible funding sources if treatment is needed.
Consult our therapist online.

12 Months

Cognitive Skills
- Imitates simple actions.
- Looks for objects removed from line of vision.
- Predicts outcomes from events (e.g., flipping a light switch will turn on/off the light).
- Puts objects into containers.
- Transfers objects from one hand to another.
- Recognizes familiar objects, persons, and pets.

Pragmatic Skills
- Responds to environmental sounds.

Semantic Skills
- Understands 50 words.
- Waves "bye-bye".
- Complies with simple commands occasionally (e.g., "give me," "come here").
- Says first words.
- Points and vocalizes as a way of obtaining objects.

Phonetic Skills
- Babbles while looking at a book.
- Imitates new sounds and words.

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing, determine if a screening test or in-depth diagnostic testing is needed at this time, and/or provide you with possible funding sources if treatment is needed.
Consult our therapist online.

18 Months

Cognitive Skills
- Uses simple conventional objects in an appropriate manner, e.g., hits pegs with wooden hammer.
- Imitates adult activities.
- Plays simple games.
- Points to objects in pictures.

Semantic Skills
- Says ten names for common objects, actions and familiar people, e.g., mommy, doggie, ball, cookie, etc.
- Asks for names of things.
- Shakes head yes/no to some questions.
- Points to major body parts when asked.
- Uses words more often than gestures to communicate.
- Produces animal sounds.
- Refers to self by name.
- Says "no."

Phonetic Skills
- Jargons while looking at pictures in a book.
- Tries to imitate what you say.
- Uses vowel sounds accurately.
- Uses at least /m/, /p/, /n/, /w/, /th/, /t/ and /d/ in his/her speech, duplicates the syllable, e.g. [nana] for banana, [wawa] for water, [ba] for ball.
- Increases vocalizing as activity level increases.

Syntactic Skills
- Follows directions for simple actions, e.g., "jump down."
- Uses two word cominations such as "more milk," "big boy," "daddy go."
- Tries to "tell" experiences using jargon combined with some real words.

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing, determine if a screening test or in-depth diagnostic testing is needed at this time, and/or provide you with possible funding sources if treatment is needed.
Consult our therapist online.

24 Months

Cognitive Skills
- Uses conventional objects in symbolic play, such as "feeding" baby dolls with spoons and bottles; "driving the car", etc.

Pragmatic Skills
- Refers to self by name.
- Attempts to describe events after they occur.
- Verbalizes basic needs for food and drink.

Semantic Skills
- Understands "in," "on," "off," "under,""big," and "little".
- Understands the meanings of 500-900 words.
- Imitates new words that you say.
- Uses 200 words.
- Identifies about five body parts.
- Uses words in creative ways (e.g., a stick thrown into the sky becomes a bird).

Phonetic Skills
- Uses speech that is 75% understandable to friends and family, although many speech "errors" can be heard.
- Uses no jargon.

Syntactic Skills
- Follows simple one-step commands.
- Combines two and three words, e.g., "more milk," "Daddy bye-bye."
- Answers your statements, questions, or requests, e.g., "Do you want more milk?" Answer: "No milk."
- Vocalizes a great deal in a group but use very little true conversation.
- Uses "me," "you," and "mine" although not always correctly.

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing, determine if a screening test or in-depth diagnostic testing is needed at this time, and/or provide you with possible funding sources if treatment is needed.
Consult our therapist online.

30 Months

Cognitive Skills
- Matches colors and shapes.
- Matches objects to pictures.
- Does simple counting.
- Parallel plays.
- Talks to self.

Pragmatic Skills
- Uses verbal language as his/her primary means of expression.
- Uses speech to be social.
- Has a conversation involving two to three exchanges with a listener.
- Talks about immediate experiences, e.g.,"Billy push car".

Semantic Skills
- Identifies a minimum of two body parts from a picture, self, doll, or person.
- Identifies many pictures in a picture book.
- Identifies objects by use, e.g., "Which one do we drink out of? Sleep in? Sit on?"
- Understands the concept of "one" and "one more."
- Names pictures that show actions.
- Has a vocabulary of 200-300 words.
- Refers to self by name, e.g.,"Jamie go".

Phonetic Skills
- Uses speech which is clear enough for strangers to understand 75% of the time.
- Uses /m/,/n/, /p/, /ng/, /w/, correctly in speech.
- May delete parts of word-initial clusters, e.g., blue ->[bu]; school -> [ku].
- May produce /s/,/z/,/sh/ as [t] or [d], e.g., sun -> [tun].
- May produce back throat consonants in the front of the mouth, e.g., car -> [ta].

Syntactic Skills
- Uses two to three word sentences.
- Uses speech which is telegraphic yet functional, using key words (nouns and verbs) to convey needs.
- Consistently follows two-part commands, e.g.,"Get mommy a diaper."
- Understands instructions involving pronouns, e.g. "I want a cup." "Show me my cup," "your cup," " mine."
- Asks simple questions "What doing?".
- Recites portions of nursery rhymes.
- Answers "Who," "What" and "Why" questions.
- Uses one or more personal pronouns, although not always correctly ("Me push car").

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing, determine if a screening test or in-depth diagnostic testing is needed at this time, and/or provide you with possible funding sources if treatment is needed.
Consult our therapist online.
 

3 years Old

Cognitive Skills
- Knows his/her last name, sex, name of street on which he/she lives, and parts of several nursery rhymes.
- Stays with one activity for eight or nine minutes.
- Sings songs.

Pragmatic Skills
- Enjoys speaking without avoidance or embarrassment.
- Uses language as a tool.
- Takes turns in conversation.
- Maintains topic.

Semantic Skills
- Understands concepts of "one," "many,'' "big," "little," "same," "different," "empty," "full," "clean," "dirty," etc.
- Understands concepts of time such as "night" and "day".
- Uses words to relate observations, ideas and relationships.
- Exhibits an expanding vocabulary of up to 900 words.

Phonetic Skills
- Produces speech which is 90% understandable.
- Produces most consonant sounds correctly.
- Includes final consonants on words, e.g., hat duck; may delete weak syllables, e.g., [efant] for elephant .
- Only occasionally repeats or hesitates as in "ma-ma-ma-mom."

Syntactic Skills
- Obeys prepositional phrases such as "put the block under the chair" and follows two-part commands, e.g.,"put the doll in the bed."
- Understands and uses plurals, e.g., "blocks," "dogs;" pronouns, e.g., "I, me, you, he, she, it, him, her;" and possessives, e.g., "girl's."
- Retells a story or relates an idea to someone using short simple sentences.
- Uses three to five word sentences.
- Asks simple questions, e.g., "What + doing?", "Where?", "Who?"
- Uses "because" to join two sentences.

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing, determine if a screening test or in-depth diagnostic testing is needed at this time, and/or provide you with possible funding sources if treatment is needed.
Consult our therapist online.

4 Years Old

Cognitive (Thinking) Skills
- Comprehends opposite concepts.
- Identifies crosses, triangles, circles, and squares.
- Speaks of imaginary conditions with "pretend" or "I hope."
- Stays with one activity for 11-12 minutes.
- Helps plan activities.
- Names primary colors on request.
- Has metalinguistic awareness: is able to think about and comment on what he (and others) says.

Social Skills
- Understands the conventions of simple conversations e.g., turn taking, topic maintenance.
- Rarely repeats or hesitates.
- Speaks without avoidance or embarrassment.
- Modifies speech to age of listener.
- Talks on the telephone.

Comprehension Skills
- Understands time concepts such as "early in the morning," "next month," "next year," "noontime."
- Knows concepts related to spatial arrangements, e.g., "in front of," "behind," "far," and  "near."
- Uses many more words than you can count (nearly 1500).

Speech Skills
- Expresses himself using speech which is understood by all. · /s/, /z/, /sh/, /j/ may be distorted. · [w] may be used for /r/.  

Grammar Skills
- Comprehends complex sentences.
- Delivers a message.
- Follows three step commands even though objects are not present.
- Uses five and six word sentences.
- Asks "How," "Where," "When" and "Why" questions.
- Answers "What if" questions.
- Uses compound sentences combined by "and," "but," "or," "so," and "because," e.g., "I'm four now but John is only three."
- Uses past and present progressive tenses accurately e.g., "I ate," "I am going..."

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing.
Consult our therapist online.

5 Years Old

 Cognitive (Thinking) Skills
- Understands cause and effect, consequences.
- States birthday and address.
- Stays with one activity for 15-20 minutes.
- Uses complicated reasoning.
- Demands increasingly detailed explanation until the adult is unable to answer.

Social Skills
- Expresses his/her feelings verbally.
- Shows interest in things being funny.

Comprehension Skills
- Classifies objects by their form, colour, use, or composition, e.g., "You eat with a fork." "A fork is made of metal."
- Knows concepts "more" and "less."
- Describes person, place, or thing using attributes.
- Names a time of day associated with an activity.
- Recites days of the week and uses simple money concepts
- Understands and uses more words than you can count (uses 2000; understands 6000), and continues to ask the meaning of new words.  

Speech Skills
- Uses all speech sounds correctly with the possible exception of /r/. 

Grammar Skills
- Relates fantasy/reality stories
- Answers questions about a story and its plot.
- Comprehends all question types including "How many."
- Comprehends complex questions related to remote events.
- Uses a sentence length of six to eight words.
- Uses grammatically correct sentences. Can use complex verbs such as  "could have been,"  "will be going," etc.

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing.
Consult our therapist online.

6/7 years old

Cognitive (Thinking) Skills
- Listens attentively and for long periods of time.
- Answers all questions accurately.
- Makes logical relationships and solves problems verbally.
- Understands reality versus fantasy.  

Social Skills
- Comprehends subtle humor and giggles about silly things.
- Uses the telephone for social calls.

Comprehension Skills
- Uses mature vocabulary, e.g., "surprisingly," "frightening," "disappointing."

Speech Skills
- Speech is error-free and adult-like.

Grammar Skills
- Uses passive sentences forms, e.g., "The bus was hit by the car."
- Corrects his/her own sentence errors.
- Uses mature expressions, e.g., "This is serious. Dad is allergic to cats and we have a mouse in the cellar."
- Seldom makes grammatical errors.
- Argues verbally.
- Uses negation often, e.g., "I can't get it," or "I can't figure it out."

If your child is not showing the above speech, language, and related skills, a consultation is recommended with a speech and language therapist who can provide you with suggestions which may prevent a communication problem from developing.
Consult our therapist online.