Preschool Speech & Language

Communication Milestones

At 6 months, your child should:

  • Turn to the source of sounds
  • Startle in response to sudden, loud noises
  • Make different cries for different needs (e.g., I'm hungry, I'm tired)
  • Watch your face as you talk
  • Smile and laugh in response to your smiles and laughs
  • Imitate coughs or other sounds (e.g., ah, eh, buh)

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272

Photo of 6 Month Child

At 9 months, your child should:

  • Respond to their name
  • Respond to the phone ringing or a knock at the door
  • Understand being told “no”
  • Get what they want through sounds and gestures (e.g., reaching to be picked up)
  • Play social games with you (e.g., peek-a-boo)
  • Enjoy being around people
  • Babble and repeat sounds (e.g., babababa, duhduhduh)

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272

At 12 months, your child should:

  • Follow simple 1-step directions (e.g., “sit down”)
  • Look across the room to something you point to
  • Use three or more words
  • Use gestures to communicate (e.g., waves “bye bye”, shakes head “no”)
  • Get your attention using sounds, gestures and pointing while looking at your eyes
  • Bring you toys to show you
  • Perform for attention and praise
  • Combine lots of sounds as though talking (e.g., “abada baduh abee”)
  • Show interest in simple picture books

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272

At 18 months, your child should:

  • Understand the concepts of “in” and “out”, “off” and “on”
  • Point to several body parts when asked
  • Use at least 20 words
  • Respond with words or gestures to simple questions (e.g., “where's teddy?”, “what's that?”)
  • Demonstrate some pretend play with toys (e.g., give teddy a drink)
  • Make at least four different consonant sounds (e.g., b, n, d, g, w, h)
  • Enjoy being read to and looking at simple books with you
  • Point to pictures using one finger

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272

At 24 months, your child should:

  • Follow two-step directions (e.g., “go find your teddy bear and show it to Grandma”)
  • Use 100 or more words
  • Use at least two pronouns (e.g., “you”, “me”, “mine”)
  • Consistently combine two or more words in short phrases (e.g., “daddy hat”, “truck go down”)
  • Enjoy being with other children
  • Begin to offer toys to peers and imitates other children's actions and words
  • Be understood by other people outside of the family 50-60% of the time
  • Form words and sounds easily and effortlessly
  • Hold books the right way up and turns pages
  • “Read” to stuffed animals or toys
  • Scribble with crayons

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272

At 30 months, your child should:

  • Understand the concepts of size (big/little) and quantity (a little, a lot, more)
  • Use some adult grammar (e.g., “two apples”, “bird flying”, “I jumped”)
  • Use more than 350 words
  • Use action words (e.g., run, spill, fall)
  • Begin taking short turns with other children, using both toys and words
  • Show concern when another child is hurt or sad
  • Combine several actions in play (e.g., feed a doll and put it to sleep, put blocks in a train then drive the train and drop blocks off)
  • Put sounds at the start of most words
  • Produce words with two or more syllables or beats (e.g., ba-na-na, com-pu-ter, a-pple)
  • Recognize familiar logos and signs (e.g., stop sign)
  • Remember and understand familiar stories 

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272

At age 3, your child should:

  • Understand “who”, “what”, “where” and “why” questions
  • Create long sentences, using 5 or more words
  • Talk about past events (e.g., trip to grandparents' house, day at childcare)
  • Tell simple stories
  • Show affection for favourite playmates
  • Engage in multi-step pretend play (e.g., cooking a meal, repairing a car)
  • Be understood by most people outside of the family, most of the time
  • Be aware of the function of print (e.g., menus, lists, signs)
  • Have a beginning interest in, and awareness of, rhyming

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272

At age 4, your child should:

  • Follow directions involving 3 or more steps (e.g., “first get some paper, then draw and picture, then give it to mom”)
  • Use adult-type grammar
  • Tell stories with a clear beginning, middle and end
  • Talk to try to solve problems with adults and other children
  • Demonstrate increasingly complex imaginative play
  • Be understood by strangers almost all of the time
  • Be able to generate simple rhymes (e.g, cat-bat)
  • Match some letters with their sounds (e.g., “the letter T says tuh”) 

 

If your child doesn't do one or more of these things, we can help! Call us at 807-346-6272