Speech & Language Development: Birth to 8 Years

The information below presents typical language development. There is a wide range of normal development. Most children will not follow the chart to the letter. If your child seems significantly behind in language development, you should talk with your child's physician regarding your questions and concerns.

6 Months

Vocalization with intonation
Responds to his name
Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes
Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones

12 Months

Uses one or more words with meaning (this may be a fragment of a word)
Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are given
Practices inflection
Is aware of the social value of speech

18 Months

Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words
Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns
Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over)
Much jargon with emotional content
Is able to follow simple commands

24 Months

Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings
Is able to use at least two prepositions, usually chosen from the following: in, on, under
Combines words into a short sentence-largely noun-verb combinations (mean)
length of sentences is given as 1.2 words
Approximately 2/3 of what child says should be intelligible
Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words
Rhythm and fluency often poor
Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled
Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me, you, although me and I are often confused
My and mine are beginning to emerge
Responds to such commands as "show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)"

36 Months:

Use pronouns I, you, me correctly
Is using some plurals and past tenses
Knows at least three prepositions, usually in, on, under
Knows chief parts of body and should be able to indicate these if not name
Handles three word sentences easily
Has in the neighborhood of 900-1000 words
About 90% of what child says should be intelligible
Verbs begin to predominate
Understands most simple questions dealing with his environment and activities
Relates his experiences so that they can be followed with reason
Able to reason out such questions as "what must you do when you are sleepy,
hungry, cool, or thirsty?"
Should be able to give his sex, name, age
Should not be expected to answer all questions even though he understands what is expected

48 Months:

Knows names of familiar animals
Can use at least four prepositions or can demonstrate his understanding of their meaning when given commands
Names common objects in picture books or magazines
Knows one or more colors
Can repeat 4 digits when they are given slowly
Can usually repeat words of four syllables
Demonstrates understanding of over and under
Has most vowels and diphthongs and the consonants p, b, m, w, n well established
Often indulges in make-believe
Extensive verbalization as he carries out activities
Understands such concepts as longer, larger, when a contrast is presented
Readily follows simple commands even thought the stimulus objects are not in sight
Much repetition of words, phrases, syllables, and even sounds

60 Months:

Can use many descriptive words spontaneously-both adjectives and adverbs
Knows common opposites: big-little, hard-soft, heave-light, etc
Has number concepts of 4 or more
Can count to ten
Speech should be completely intelligible, in spite of articulation problems
Should have all vowels and the consonants, m,p,b,h,w,k,g,t,d,n,ng,y (yellow)
Should be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words
Should be able to define common objects in terms of use (hat, shoe, chair)
Should be able to follow three commands given without interruptions
Should know his age
Should have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after, while
Tomorrow, yesterday, today
Should be using fairly long sentences and should use some compound and some
complex sentences
Speech on the whole should be grammatically correct

6 Years:

In addition to the above consonants these should be mastered: f, v, sh, zh, th,1
He should have concepts of 7
Speech should be completely intelligible and socially useful
Should be able to tell one a rather connected story about a picture, seeing
relationships between objects and happenings

7 Years:

Should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g as in George
Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp short-long, sweet-sour, etc
Understands such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc
Should be able to tell time to quarter hour
Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words

8 Years:

Can relate rather involved accounts of events, many of which occurred at some time in the past
Complex and compound sentences should be used easily
Should be few lapses in grammatical constrictions-tense, pronouns, plurals
All speech sounds, including consonant blends should be established
Should be reading with considerable ease and now writing simple compositions
Social amenities should be present in his speech in appropriate situations
Control of rate, pitch, and volume are generally well and appropriately established
Can carry on conversation at rather adult level
Follows fairly complex directions with little repetition
Has well developed time and number concepts

Source: http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/language_development.shtml