Is Your Child Reaching These Speech Milestones?

Delayed speech is an area that is often overlooked in a child’s development. A wait and see attitude of “my child will grow out of it”, leads to communication delays that can hamper your child’s interaction with the world around them.

Knowing what your child should be doing at a certain age is called milestones. Your child should be accomplishing these milestones around a given age in their normal course of development. If you find that your child is becoming delayed significantly in achieving these milestones, it is best to follow up with our speech therapists for an evaluation to pinpoint a course of treatment that will allow your child to get back on track towards their milestones.  Here are common milestones your child should be achieving:

By the end of six months, your child may:

Make gurgling sounds when playing with you or left alone
Babble repetitive syllables, such as “ba, ba, ba”
Use his or her voice to express pleasure and displeasure
Move his or her eyes in the direction of sounds
Respond to changes in the tone of your voice
Notice that some toys make sounds
Pay attention to music

By the end of 12 months, your child may:

Try to imitate words; say a few such as “dada,” “mama”, “uh-oh”
Understand simple instructions, such as “Drink your milk”, “No”
Use gestures to communicate, like waving
Turn and look in the direction of sounds
Enjoy games like peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake
Recognize words for common objects like “cup”, “book”, “dog”

By the end of 24 months, your child may:

Point to some body parts and pictures in book when named
Use simple phrases, such as “more milk”
Begin to use pronouns, such as “mine”
Ask one to two word questions, such as “Go bye-bye?”
Follow simple commands without the help of gestures
Say more words every month
Speak 50 words and understand more

By the end of 3 years, your child may:

Have a word for most things
Be mostly understood by familiar listeners
Follow 2 requests such as “Get the book and bring it here.”
Understand differences in meaning like “go-stop”, “up-down”

Helping your child reach their potential is our goal. Often, children just need some guidance on attaining their milestones. We work with you to train you on the correct techniques to accelerate your child’s speech, communication and physical abilities. We offer a free pediatric consultation, so for more information on how we can help your child reach their full potential, call us today!