Age | Expressive language skill | Receptive language skill | Gestural communication skill |
Birth to 2 months | Cries | Turns toward sound | – |
2 to 4 months | Coos (makes open vowel sounds: "ooh"; "aah") | Social smile | – |
Watches faces intently | |||
6 months | Babbles (repetitive consonant-vowel combinations: "bababa"; "mamama") | Responds to name | – |
12 months | Says first word/word approximation | Follows 1-step verbal command with gesture (eg, "Give me the ball") | Visually follows adult's pointing |
Uses jargon/babbles with inflection | Responds to "no" (eg, stops activity) | Points to request (12 to 14 months) | |
Repeats sounds or gestures to get attention | Starts to use gestures (eg, shaking head "no") | ||
15 to 18 months | Points to common body parts when named | Follows 1-step verbal command without gesture | Points to share attention/enjoyment with another person (not just to request things) |
Shows objects to another person | |||
18 to 24 months | Uses¶ 2-word phrases ("Mommy milk"; "go outside") | Points to objects or people when named | – |
24 to 36 months | Answers simple questions ("What's your name?"; "Who's that?") | Follows 2-step verbal command | – |
50% intelligible | |||
36 to 48 months | Uses 4- to 5-word sentences | Understands placement in space (on, in, under) | – |
Uses pronouns and some plurals | |||
75% intelligible | |||
48 to 72 months | Uses full sentences with grammatical markings (eg, plurals, verb endings) | Follows 3-step verbal command | – |
100% intelligible |
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