6 months

• Laughs, gurgles, coos with familiar people
• Babbles for attention
• Experiments with sounds /ba/ /da/ /ka/ /ma/
• Interacts with adults using vocalisation and eye contact
• Searches for a speaker/turns head toward a voice
• Discriminates between threatening and friendly voices

12 months

• Imitates the names of familiar objects
• Imitates sound combinations
• Says 3-5 words including mama/dada spontaneously
• Recognizes the names of a few familiar objects
• Looks at person saying child’s name
• Follows simple directions occasionally

18 months

• Says 50+ meaningful words.
• Uses words to make wants/needs known (ie: “more” “up” “cookie” “juice”)
• Imitates familiar words overheard in conversation
• May begin combining words into 2-word phrases (ie: “more cookie”)
• Identifies 3-5 body parts
• Brings familiar object from another room on request (ie: “Go get your cup.”)
• Follows simple directions consistently

24 months

• Uses 200+ words
• Combines words into 2 and some 3-word utterances
• Uses a few early pronouns (ie: I, me, mine)
• Begins asking ‘wh’ questions
• Identifies pictures when named by an adult
• Chooses objects from a large group on request
• Understands simple questions and commands

30 months

• Uses 400+ words
• Uses 2 sentence types (ie: statement and question)
• Refers to self by pronoun consistently
• Responds to simple questions using words
• Answers yes/no questions, but may confuse ‘yes’ versus ‘no’
• Understands early concepts (ie: big/little, “one”)
• Parallel play predominates

36 Months

• Uses verb forms and modifiers (adjectives) in phrases/sentences
• Expresses physical states (ie: hungry, tired, thirsty)
• Unfamiliar listeners are able to understand child 90% of the time
• Answers yes/no questions correctly
• Beginning to understand some prepositions
• Follows more complex directions
• Beginning interest in cooperative/interactive play with small groups
• Imaginative play begins to emerge

4 – 5 years of age

• Plays cooperatively in groups of 2-3 children; chooses companions of own sex
• Suggests turns and begins to share, but can be bossy in play
• Child is most intelligible to unfamiliar listeners
• Consistently combines 4-5 words in sentences and uses complex sentences frequently
• Begins to use “Is” at the beginning of questions
• Regular plural forms are consistent; irregular plural forms are emerging
• Uses simple past tense verbs
• Participates in detailed conversations
• Appropriately answers “What if” questions.
• Follows commands involving 3 actions
• Makes conversational “repairs” when the listener has not understood

5-6 years of age

• Understands concepts of time (am/pm, yesterday/today)
• Uses all pronouns correctly and consistently
• Emerging use of adverbial word endings (slowLY, fastER)
• Syntax/grammar rules are followed majority of time
• Plans sequence of pretend events in play and uses props/language to develop a theme
• Has the majority of consonant sounds mastered and is intelligible to unfamiliar listeners without interpretation (MAY still substitute w/r)
• Can state similarities and differences of objects