As babies grow, developmental milestones are monitored through their infancy – sitting up,
crawling and walking  are the most noticeable and often memorable milestones for parents. Health professionals use these milestones as a guideline for how infants are developing, as most will be able to achieve certain tasks or have certain functional skills by a particular age. For example, most toddlers are beginning to walk a few steps at 12 months of age. If a child is not demonstrating these skills until several months after the anticipated age, then it is possible that some form of developmental delay may be present. 

Language development is no different, and can also be monitored by age-specific developmental milestones. As emerging language in a baby can be less obvious than the emerging ability to crawl or walk, a potential language delay can be easily overlooked.  

Language development is nonetheless an extremely important part of a child’s development, particularly in the first 3 years of life. Any person of any age needs to be able to communicate their basic needs, particularly if they are reliant on a caregiver to help them meet these needs, as babies are. Children also cannot learn to read or write without having acquired language properly, so it is very important that any language delay is addressed immediately to impact as little as possible on education. 

Below is a list of language development milestones, sorted by ascending age. It is important to remember that all children develop at different rates, and if they’ve had huge progress in one area (e.g. walking), then other areas may take a backseat for a little while.  

Similarly, remember that the milestones are guidelines – delays by a couple of months are normal and no child will have ‘perfect’ language development that adheres entirely to the milestones.
 
Stages of Language Development 
  

Birth to One Year

A baby’s first attempts at communicating emotions and needs are through crying.
 
Parents quickly learn how to differentiate hunger cries from those indicating tiredness or a wet nappy.
By three months: babies will turn their heads towards voices and recognize parents’ voices. Expressively, babies indicate contentment and amusement by smiling. They can already repeat sounds (e.g., cooing).
 
At 4 to 6 months: babies notice new sounds such as the vacuum cleaner and telephone. They respond to “no” and to changes in tone of voice. They pay attention to music. Early sound discrimination skills are beginning to emerge. Sounds have a more speech-like babble to them (e.g., babamama). Babies tells you by sound or gesture when they want something.
 
At 7 months to one year:  infants are beginning to recognize their name (e.g., turning the head or looking up). They listen when spoken to and are beginning to recognize common words (e.g., “juice”, “bottle”), and to respond to requests like “Come here.” Vocabulary and concepts are being developed. Expressively, the infant imitates speech sounds, and may have 1 or 2 words (e.g., “bye-bye,” “baba” for bottle, and “no”) by one year. The infant more frequently uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep attention. Babbling has long and short groups of sounds such as “mama maaa.” 
One to Two Years
 
Children are now able to participate more actively in listening to simple stories, songs (e.g., “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”), and rhymes (“Humpty Dumpty”). They can follow simple commands (e.g., “Roll the ball” and “Blow a kiss”). Children can usually point to a few body parts and to pictures of things in a book when you name them.
 
Their vocabulary is increasing, and they say more and more words every month. At around 2 years children are beginning to put 2 words together; for example, “more juice” and “get up.” They use many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
 

Two to Three Years

Children are beginning to understand differences in meaning like the difference between “up and down,” and “big and little”.

They notice noises, such as the doorbell ringing, the telephone, and sounds on the television. They follow requests or directions that have two parts to them (e.g., “Get the ball and throw it to me”).

Expressively, children have a word for almost everything, and they are beginning to use 2-3 word phrases to talk about things (“My baby”) and ask questions (“Where’s mummy?”). They direct attention to or ask for objects by naming them. Familiar listeners should understand children’s speech at this age most of the time.

There are a number of different things that parents (or primary caregivers) can do to encourage and support the development of their child’s language, whether they suspect a language delay or not. Many of these strategies can be easily incorporated into the daily routine, including meal-times and play-time. These techniques are particularly useful for language development, but are also fun ways of bonding with your baby and connecting with your child.

 
The aim with these techniques is for your baby or child to hear as much language as possible, and to learn to use it with others as part of mutual communication/conversation. For example, although a child may be exposed to plenty of language by watching TV, it is only 1-way communication. They have no practice imitating what they’re hearing or communicating directly with others as a 2-way conversation.
 
  The techniques very much emphasise 2-way communication at all levels of communication, even before a baby has produced its first words. Talk between parent and child encourages anticipation, imitation, interaction and conversation skills. It also encourages and stengthens positive family relationships.
 
These techniques encourage responsive communication – helping your infant understand that they can communicate their needs and wants through talking. This fosters confidence in talking and encourages social communication,setting your child on the right road to success in the classroom and developing literacy skills.
 
Finally, the techniques encourage understandinf of the world around them – allowing infants to name surrounding items, toys and objects encourages vocabulary  growth and builds on early literacy skills. As they get older they can then begin to learn about concepts and grammar to use their vocabulary appropriately.
 
Several practical, fun techniques are listed below, in order of age.
 

If you are concerned that your child may have a language delay, I.T.S. has a team of experienced speech & language therapists who can be of great help: https://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/contact-us/

 

Practical Techniques for Supporting Language Development
 
 Adapted from LOGOS Speech and Language Therapy (http://logoslondon.com/language.aspx) and The Hanen Centre (http://www.hanen.org)
 
From Birth To One Year

·        Check that your child’s hearing is OK! Ear infections such as ‘glue ear’ are very common during infancy and if recurrent, can impact on speech and language development.
 
 ·        Help your baby understand that communication can be 2-way: reinforce your baby’s communication attempts by looking at them and imitating their vocalisations, laughter and facial expressions.
 
·        Build on the foundations of early language development and conversation – imitation and turn-taking. Teach your baby to imitate actions such as peek-a-boo, clapping, blowing kisses, pat-a-cake, itsy-bitsy spider, and waving “bye-bye.”
 
·        Let your baby hear your voice and begin to expand their vocabulary – talk while you are doing things, such as dressing, bathing, and feeding. “Mummy is washing Sam’s hair.” “Oh, these carrots are good!” Talk about where you are going, what you will do once you get there, and who and what you’ll see. “Sam is going to grandma’s house. Grandma has a dog. Sam will pet the dog.”

 
·        Help your baby learn to distinguish between human voices and other sounds – have fun imitating animal sounds (e.g., A cow says “moo”).
One to Two Years
 
·        Continue to expand your baby’s vocabulary – keep talking while doing things and going places. When taking a walk in the pram, for example, point to familiar objects (e.g., cars, birds) and say their names. “I see a dog. The dog says ‘woof.’ This is a big dog.” Use simple but grammatical speech that is easy for your child to imitate. The more language ‘input’ the child has, the better.
 
·        Expand on your child’s single words. For example, if your child says “car,” you can say: “You’re right! A big car.”

 
·        Find time to read to your child every day. Try to find books with large pictures and 1-2 words or a simple phrase or sentence on each page. When reading to your child, take time to name and describe the pictures on each page. Have your child point to pictures that you name and then ask them to name pictures. This builds on a number of skills – attention, listening, vocabulary development, understanding of spoken language and more.

Two to Three Years

·        Keep showing interest in your child’s language and expanding on what they are saying. Use clear, simple speech that is easy to imitate. Show your child that you are interested in what he or she says to you by repeating what he or she has said and expanding on it. For example, if your child says, “pretty flower,” you can respond by saying, “Yes, that is a pretty flower. The flower is red.”
 
·        Let your child understand how important communication is by asking him or her to repeat things that you do not completely understand. For example, “I know you want a block. Tell me again which block you want.”
 
·        Expand on your child’s vocabulary. Introduce new vocabulary through reading books that have a simple sentence on each page. Continue to name objects and describe the picture on each page of the book. Explain synonyms for familiar words (e.g., mummy, woman, lady, grown-up, adult), and use this new vocabulary in sentences to help your child learn it in context.
 
·        Help your child attach names and uses to objects – put objects into a bucket, and have your child remove one object at a time, saying its name. You repeat what your child says, and expand upon it. “That is a comb. Sam combs his hair.” Take the objects from the bucket and help your child group them into categories (e.g., clothes, food, drawing tools, etc.)
 
·        Help your child understand that reading is spoken language in print. Look at family photos and name the people. Use simple phrases/sentences to describe what is happening in the pictures (e.g., “Sam swims in the pool”). Write simple appropriate phrases under the pictures. For example, “I can swim,” or “Happy birthday to Daddy.”
 
·        Ask your child questions that require a choice, rather than simply a “yes” or “no” answer. For example, rather than asking, “Do you want milk? Do you want water?”, ask, “Would you like a glass of milk or water?” Be sure to wait for the answer, and reinforce successful communication. “Thank you for telling mummy what you want. Mummy will get you a glass of milk.”
 
·        Continue to sing songs, play finger games (“This little piggy”), and tell nursery rhymes (“Hickory Dickory Dock”). These songs and games introduce your child to the rhythm and sounds of language.

Three to Four Years

 

·        Cut out pictures from old catalogues. Then make silly pictures by gluing parts of different pictures together in an improbable way. For example, glue a picture of a dog to the inside of a car as if the dog is driving. After a good laugh, help your child explain what is silly about the picture. You can do the same thing with family photos that you do not need anymore.

 

·      Continue to sort pictures and items into categories, but increase the challenge by asking your child to point out the item that does not belong in a category. For example, a baby does not belong with a dog, cat and mouse. Tell your child that you agree with his or her answer because a baby is not an animal.

 

·        Continue to expand vocabulary and the length of your child’s utterances by reading, singing, talking about what you are doing and where you are going, and saying rhymes.

 

·        Encourage narrative skills and connected speech on your child. Now you can read books that have a simple plot, and you can talk about the story line with your child. Help your child to retell the story or act it out with props and dress-up clothes. Tell them your favourite part of the story and ask for their favourite part. Continue to look at family pictures, and now have your child explain what is happening in each one.

 

·        Work on comprehension skills by asking your child questions. Have him or her try to fool you with his or her own questions. Make this game playful by pretending that you have been fooled by some of his or her really hard questions.

 

·        Expand on social communication and story-telling skills by “acting out” typical scenarios (e.g., cooking food, going to sleep, and going to the doctor) with a dollhouse and its props. Do the same type of role-playing activity when playing dress-up. As always, ask your child to repeat what he or she has said if you do not understand it completely. This shows that what he or she says is important to you.

 

Four to Five Years

 

·        Always give full attention to children when they are speaking, and acknowledge, praise, and encourage them after they have spoken. Before you speak to them, be sure to get their undivided attention. Pause after speaking, allowing them to respond to what you have said.

 

·        Encourage your child to ask for an explanation if he or she does not understand what a word means. Talk about spatial relationships (e.g., between, under, first in line) and encourage your child to do the same. Point out things that are the same or different. Play games that incorporate these concepts which he/she will meet later in the classroom in reading readiness.

 

·        Continue expanding vocabulary and understanding of meaning by sorting items into categories. Now try to sort them by pointing out more subtle differences between objects (e.g., rocks that are smooth versus those that are rough, heavy vs. light, big vs. small). Again, have your child identify the object that does not belong in a given category, but now ask him or her to explain why the item does not belong.

 

·        Continue reading stories with easy-to-follow plots. Help your child predict what will happen next in the story. Act out the stories, and put on puppet shows of the stories. Have your child draw a picture of a scene from the story, or of a favourite part. You can do the same thing with videos and television shows, as these also have plots. Ask “wh” questions (who, what, when, where, or why) and monitor his/her response.

 

·        Expand on your child’ s comprehension and expressive language skills by playing “I Spy.” “I spy something round on the wall that you use to tell the time.” After your child guesses what you have described, have him or her give you clues about something that he or she sees.

 

·        Give your child 2-step directions (e.g., “Get your coat from the closet and put it on”). Encourage your child to give directions to explain how he or she has done something. For example, ask your child to explain how he or she made a structure out of Lego blocks. Draw a picture, and write down your child’s story as he tells it. He will soon grasp the power of storytelling and written language.

 


Sarah Bennington – August 2010 
 

Written on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services. ITS is a private Speech and Language Therapy service based in Leicestershire and the East Midlands . It specialises in providing highly-skilled Speech and Language Therapists, but also associates with other therapeutic professionals, including Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Psychologists and Arts Therapists.

 

 

 


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