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Age
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Typically Can
A child typically can . . .
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Emerging Skills
A child whose skills are emerging typically . . .
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0 to 3 months
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- become startled at loud noises
- be soothed by calm, gentle voices
- be cuddled and respond favourably
- cry, gurgle, grunt, say “ah”
- suck and swallow well
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- recognizes voices of primary caregivers
- responds to human voices
- moves his or her lips rhythmically
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4 to 6 months
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- watch your face with interest when you talk
- try to “talk” to you by cooing, babbling, and squealing
- smile at you
- coo and squeal for attention
- have a special cry when hungry
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- responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones
- babbles one-syllable sounds
- experiments with pitch variances and imitations of tone
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6 to 12 months
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- understand some common words when used with gestures such as the child’s name, “bye-bye,” “up,” and “give me”
- copy gestures such as waving goodbye
- copy different speech sounds such as “uh-oh” and “wheee”
- babble using a variety of different sounds such as “bababa,” “dididi,” “upup,” and “bupbupbup.”
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- responds to her or his name
- looks at objects that are named
- tries to imitate sounds
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12 to 18 months
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- understand simple questions or statements such as “Where is your nose?” and “Give me”
- nod “yes” and shake head “no”
- point to show interest in something or to ask for something
- take part in imaginative play such as pretending to go to sleep or putting a toy phone to the ear
- babble using a variety of sounds, which when put together sound like real sentences
- say a few words, although they may not be clear
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- babbles as though aware of the social value of speech
- follows simple directions through recognition of word order
- combines two words
- understands meaning of “no”
- acquires sound patterns
- recognizes and attempts to state common objects such as “babba” for bottle
- gives a toy when asked for
- likes to imitate noises (e.g., cars, sirens)
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18 to 2 years
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- understand simple questions such as “Where is mommy/daddy?” and “Where is your shoe?”
- understand simple directions such as “Get your blanket”
- understand more words than they can say
- ask for a cookie or toy
- say two-word sentences such as “more juice,” “no night-night,” or “daddy car”
- say “whatssat” a lot at about age two
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- uses her or his own name
- attempts to sing
- has a vocabulary of approximately 5 to 20 words
- repeats words and phrases
- uses language to express needs, e.g., “owie”
- identifies simple pictures
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2 to 3 years
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- answer simple questions such as “What is your name?” and “Which one is the big doll?”
- follow simple directions such as “Put the teddy bear to bed”
- put a toy “in,” “on,” and “under” when asked
- have a word for almost everything
- use two- to three-word “sentences” to talk about and ask for things such as “that my truck,” “Puppy eat cookie,” and “Doggy kiss me”
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- thinks in “my” and “mine”
- asks questions
- points to body parts and attempts to name them
- has a vocabulary of 150 to 300 words
- briefly demonstrates stuttering
- continues to add new words to vocabulary
- begins to grasp the concept of numbers
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3 to 4 years
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- understand questions about a picture book such as “Where did the bunny go?”
- follow two related directions such as “Close the book and give the book to me”
- give directions such as “Fix this for me”
- use a lot of sentences that have four or more words
- ask many questions such “what,” “where,” and “why”
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- recites the alphabet
- names body parts, familiar animals, colours
- has a vocabulary of 900 to 1000 words
- refers to self as “me”
- solves problems through talking
- speaks in sentences
- adds words to sentences
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4 to 5 years
Adapted from: © Matthew Cole/shutterstock
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- follow three related directions such as “Get your crayons, make a picture, and put the picture on the counter”
- understand concepts such as “top,” “bottom,” and “behind”
- tell stories and share ideas about things that happened recently
- explain the meaning of words when asked
- say most sounds correctly except for a few like l, r, th, ch, and sh
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- engages in conversation
- uses descriptive words to describe
- counts to 20
- asks many, many questions
- plays with words and makes up silly words and stories
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