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Developmental Milestones
Speech, Language & Play
 

Below are developmental milestones in the areas of speech, language, and play listed by age. You can use them as a rough guide to help determine if your child is meeting developmental expectations. If your child is not demonstrating skills listed within their age range, it may be time to reach out for support. I offer parents a free initial phone consultation during which I can answer questions specific to your child and help you decide if speech therapy would be appropriate.

 

Call me at 619-723-3021 for a free initial phone consultation.

0 to 6 months

Speech

  • Begin to babble

  • Put lips together to say, m, b, p sounds

  • Use single and some double syllables

  • Coo and gurgle

Language 

  • Move eyes toward source of sound

  • Look in response to own name

  • Watch or closely attend to movement patterns

  • Indicate displeasure on withdrawal of objects

  • Smile when spoken to

  • Cry differently when tired, hungry, in pain

  • Respond to “no” and changes in tone of voice

  • Recognize voices

Play

  • Grasp object when placed in hand

  • Play actively when propped in play area (6 months)

1 year to 18 months

Speech

  • Use vowels and consonants in jargon

  • Imitate some sounds and words

Language 

  • Have a few intelligible words

  • Produce words with vowel-consonant structure (i.e. da for dog)

  • Produce 3-20 words

  • Use nouns (about 50% of all utterances)

  • Begin to claim objects as their own

  • Point to recognized objects

  • Follow simple 1-step directions

  • Speak in mostly 1-word utterances (2-word phrases emerging)

  • Answer simple “what’s this?” questions

  • Ask for “more”

Play

  • Engage in solitary or onlooker play

  • Engage in self play

2 years to 2.5 years

 

Speech​

  • Produce m, b, p, n, t, d, w, h and y

  • Use adult-like intonation

  • Speak with about 50% intelligibility

  • Imitate some words

Language

  • Comprehend about 500 words

  • Speak about 200 words

  • Put 2-3 words together

  • Follow simple and 2-step directions

  • Use in/on and some plurals correctly

  • Use the present progressive tense of verbs (verb plus -ing, like “running”)

  • Answer yes/no and simple -WH questions

  • Identify common objects, body parts, and actions

Play

  • Engage in parallel play

  • Stay with an activity for 6-7 minutes

​

​

3 to 3.5 years​

Speech​

  • Use k, g, 'ng,' and s sounds more consistently

  • Speak with about 80% intelligibility

  • Put ending sounds on words most of the time

Language 

  • Comprehend about 1200 words

  • Speak about 800 words

  • Put 4-5 words together

  • Use is, are and am in sentences

  • Use front/back/under and possessives correctly

  • Use am plus present progressive tense of verbs (am verb +ing)

  • Answer simple “how” questions

  • Tell little stories

Play

  • Engage in cooperative play

  • Stay with an activity for 8-9 minutes

4 to 5 years​

Speech

  • Master k, g, “ng” and f and v sounds 

  • Speak with 90-100% intelligibility

  • Produce l and l blend sounds

  • Produce s consonant clusters

Language

  • Comprehend about 2500-2800 words

  • Speak about 1500-2000 words

  • Put 4-8 words together

  • Use irregular plurals

  • Use between/below/above

  • Use future tense of verbs (i.e. will + verb)

  • Answer “when” questions

  • Tell longer-sequenced stories

Play

  • Engage imaginative play

  • Stay with an activity for 11-12 minutes

6 to 7 years

Speech

  • Produce voiced and voiceless “th”

  • Master r sound

  • Have mature speech

Language

  • Comprehend about 20,000-26,000 words

  • Use most morphological markers consistently

  • Put 6-8 words together

  • Use reflexive pronouns

  • Use passive voice

  • Use irregular comparatives more (i.e. good/better/best)

  • Be aware of mistakes in other people’s speech

  • Use “if” and “so” correctly

Play

  • Engage in group play

  • Stay with activity for hours

6 to 12 months

Speech

  • Produce m, b, p, n, t, d sounds in babbling

  • Begin jargon as babbling stops

Language 

  • Acquire first true word (0-18 months)

  • Imitate some intonation and speech sounds

  • Listen when spoken to

  • Look at common objects when their names are spoken

  • Use 1-3 words around 12 months

  • Understand and respond to own name

  • Give object on request

  • Use speech sounds intentionally (vs. crying for attention)

  • Vocalize and gesture to indicate wants and needs

  • Respond to simple requests

Play

  • Start to play with cause-and-effect toys

  • Explore toys with fingers and mouth

18 months to 2 years

Speech

  • Produce more words than jargon

  • Eliminate jargon by age 2

  • Speak with about 50% intelligibility by age 2

Language

  • Raise intonation at the end of questions

  • Comprehend about 300 words

  • Speak about 50 recognizable words

  • Put 2 words together

  • Start using verbs and adjectives

  • Produce animal sound or use its name

  • Imitate events present to their senses (not past experiences)

  • Answer yes/no questions with head shake

  • Identify at least 5 body parts and 5 pictures

Play

  • Engage in parallel play

  • Have less rapid shifts in attention during play

 

​

2.5 to 3 years​​

Speech

  • Speak with about 75% intelligibility

  • Imitate some words

Langauge 

  • Comprehend about 900 words

  • Speak about 450 words

  • Put 3-4 words together

  • Use is + adjective sentence structure (He is big)

  • Use in/on/under and regular plurals correctly

  • Use am plus present progressive tense form (i.e. I am verb -ing)

  • Answer “where?” questions

  • Comprehend he/she and use I, me, my, and you

Play

  • Start to engage in cooperative play

  • Start pretend play and symbolic play

​3.5 to 4 years

Speech

  • Master m, b, p, n, t, d, w, h and y sounds 

  • Produce k, g, 'ng' and s sounds 

  • Speak with 100% intelligibility by age 4

  • Mark more sounds in consonant clusters

Language

  • Comprehend about 1500-2000 words

  • Speak about 1000-1500 words

  • Put 4-5 words together

  • Use regular past tense of verbs 

  • Understand object function

  • Use he/she and regular 3rd person (he/she verb+s)

  • Follow 3-step directions

  • Tell about 2 events in sequence

Play

  • Prefer to play in groups of 2-3 children

  • Increase dramatization in play

5 to 6 years​

Language​

  • Produce sh, ch and j sounds 

  • Have very few speech sound errors, is about 98% intelligible 

  • Produce s and z sounds with correct tongue placement

  • R sound emerging 

Speech

  • Comprehend about 13,000 words

  • Understand most/least, before/after, now/later

  • Put 5-8 words together

  • Use all pronouns consistently

  • Use past and future tense of verbs correctly

  • Use adverbial word endings (i.e. slowly, faster)

  • Answer “what happens if” questions

  • Heave mostly accurate syntax (word order)

Play

  • Plan many sequences of pretend event

  • Stay with an activity 12-13 minutes

​

7 and older

​

  • Have well developed speech sounds 

  • Demonstrate interest in reading 

  • Use mostly accurate grammar, start to master exceptions to grammatical rules 

  • Move from learning to read to reading to learn

  • Demonstrate inference skills 

  • Tell a complete story using context to help an unfamiliar listener follow along 

  • Tell stories with multiple and complex episodes 

  • Give synonyms and categories in word definitions 

  • Use some figurative language 

  • Follow 3+ step verbal directions

  • Summarize

  • Make predictions

  • Compare and contrast 

Zahava Friedman, M.A. CCC-SLP
619-723-3021
zfspeechtherapy@gmail.com

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