Speech Delay - information on childhood milestones, ages and stages of child development."> <META NAME="Keywords" Content="speech delay, language disorders, communicate, child, delayed children, language delays, speech, expressive, receptive, columbus, oh

Speech Delay.com - Helping your child succeed in life

Books/Products

Speech Forum

Milestones

Speech Norms

Hearing Loss

Talking Tips

FAQS

About Jennifer

Kid Zone!

Web Links

Contact Info

Speech & Language Milestones

24 months (2 years.):

Child understands simple questions and commands;

Identifies familiar actions/activities in pictures (i.e. "sleeping, eating");

Follows directions to put objects "on, off, in";

Puts two words together on average;

Sentence length of up to three words;

Child will refer to self by name;

Labels pictures;

Start to use the negative "not go";

Final "s" is used for plurals;

Vocabulary jumps to 300 words during the year! In fact between the ages of 2 and 4, kids may increase their vocabulary to 2 words per day;

Children will stay with one activity about 6-7 minutes.

Talking Tip: Repeat new words over and over. Use gestures and intonation to highlight information. Talk about what you are doing, and carry on a simple conversation. You can use some questions to stimulate additional thought and language, however limit the use/frequency of questions you use. Too many questions can be demanding, and frustrating if the child is unable to formulate a response. Frequent "commenting" often elicits as much or more language from a child. Give your child time to respond! Waiting as long as 10 seconds for a response is often needed. Read books with simple and repetitive language, and simple colorful pictures (I like the book "Go Away" by Ed Emberley). Play "Simon Says" or other listening/following instruction games to help develop listening skills. Make sure requests are simple (i.e., "touch your nose").

30 months (2 1/2 years.):

Child has about 450 word vocabulary;

Child is able to give his/her first name;

Child uses past tense, plurals, and combines nouns and verbs;

Begin to identify objects from a group by their function and parts (ie. "which one has wheels?", "which one can we eat?");

Begin to use verbs with "ing" endings (i.e. "eating");

Early concepts such as "big, little" are identified;

Child will use "no, not" and answer "where" questions.

Talking Tip: Model pronouns such as "I, he, she" with short phrases (i.e. "I like cookies"). Read familiar and/or repetitive stories and encourage child to tell what is going to happen, or respond to simple questions about the story. Continue to listen to/sing along with familiar songs (i.e. listen to tapes in the car).

3 years.:

Child will name at least one color;

Child will often talk during play, or when alone;

Child can tell a basic story or idea;

Child can use 3-4 word sentences;

Begins to understand "not";

Can identify items in a familiar category or group (i.e. "show me the animal");

Child can have a vocabulary of up to 1000 words;

Children are often able to tell their name and street.

Talking Tip: Encourage vocabulary development. Continue to talk about everything you are doing during activities throughout the day. Use simple sentences of 4-5 words when talking around the child. Child can respond to "wh" questions more readily (what, where). Play with child as if you are a child. (i.e. Model dolls "talking"/carrying out familiar routines. "Drive" toy cars to the "store" to get milk, then "drive home" and put away the groceries or prepare dinner). Children will use a lot of pretend play, and carryout early social sequences. Playing with other children is also a good way to develop social and language skills. A child may not have all the sounds, however he/she should be intelligible by age 3. If a delay is suspected, discuss it with your pediatrician for a possible speech/language evaluation.

4 years:

Child will follow 2-3 step commands;

Child will ask many questions, including "who/why";

Child talks in 4-5 word sentences;

Understands and verbalizes spatial concepts more readily such as "on, under, next to..";

Child will talk in the past tense correctly.

Talking Tip: Start to classify objects into bigger categories such as "animals, things to wear, things to eat...". You can visit the zoo, plan outfits for particular occasions, discuss what you will eat for lunch, dinner, etc. You can talk to your child in longer sentences, and read longer stories. Making up, or tell stories to each other. Speech sounds may not be perfect yet. Model the correct sounds.

continue to 5 year milestones...

Related Link: Speech Developmental Norms

*Although children typically develop in the same manner, all children are different and unique. The above are general guidelines as evidenced through various sources of literature and research. If a delay is suspected, contact your pediatrician to discuss. Your pediatrician may refer you for the appropriate evaluation if necessary.

Amazon Books: Speech Therapy For Children

About Jennifer l Milestones l Speech Norms l Hearing Loss l Talking Tips l FAQS l
Speech Forum l Books, etc. l Kid Zone l Web Links l Contact Info l Disclaimer l Home

Jennifer Fusco, MACCC-SLP, Speech Delay.com, P.O. Box 21492, Columbus, OH 43221