Speech & Language Milestones: Birth to 5 Years

Birth to 5 Months

• Responds to loud sounds and turns toward voices or noise

• Watches faces closely when spoken to and begins to engage visually

• Makes cooing sounds and vocalizes joy or displeasure (laughing, crying, fussing)

• Reacts with sounds when someone talks, showing early communication interest

6 – 11 Months

• Begins to understand simple words like “no”

• Babbles with repeated syllables such as “ba-ba-ba” or “ma-ma-ma”

• Uses gestures or actions to communicate wants or needs

• Attempts to imitate familiar sounds they hear

12 – 17 Months

• Pays attention to toys or books for about two minutes

• Follows simple instructions when paired with gestures

• Answers basic questions with nonverbal responses

• Points to objects, pictures, or familiar people

• Uses a few words to name people or objects, even if pronunciation isn’t clear

• Tries to mimic new words

18 – 23 Months

• Enjoys being read to and listens attentively

• Understands and follows simple spoken directions without needing gestures

• Points to basic body parts like “nose” or “ears”

• Understands simple action words like “eat” or “sleep”

• Pronounces most vowels and early consonants (n, m, p, h), and begins adding others

• Uses 8–10 words and asks for common items by name

• Makes animal sounds like “moo”

• Starts combining two words (“more milk”) and using simple pronouns (“mine”)

2 – 3 Years

• Knows about 50 words by age 2 and uses descriptive words like “big” or “happy”

• Understands basic spatial concepts such as “in” and “on”

• Uses pronouns like “you,” “me,” and “her”

• Begins forming two- to three-word phrases and asking simple questions (“My ball?”)

• Uses plurals (“shoes”) and simple past tense (“jumped”)

• Speech becomes more accurate, though some sounds may still be missing

• Answers basic questions, but strangers may not understand everything yet

3 – 4 Years

• Groups items into categories (e.g., foods, clothes) and names colors

• Uses most speech sounds, though harder sounds (l, r, s, sh, ch, th, etc.) may still be developing

• Produces consonants in the beginning, middle, and end of words

• Can describe how objects are used (“A fork is for eating”)

• Expresses ideas and feelings and enjoys playful language like rhymes or jokes

• Uses “-ing” verbs (“walking,” “talking”) and answers simple “what” or “why” questions

• Strangers understand most of what the child says

4 – 5 Years

• Understands spatial words like “behind” and “next to” and follows more complex questions

• Speaks clearly, though long or complicated words may still be tricky

• Uses 200–300 different words and irregular past tense verbs (“ran,” “fell”)

• Explains how to do tasks (“how to paint a picture”)

• Defines simple words and groups items into categories (“animals,” “vehicles”)

• Asks and answers “why” questions

5 Years

• Understands over 2,000 words and basic time concepts (“first,” “next,” “last”)

• Follows three-step directions and recognizes rhyming words

• Holds conversations with sentences of 8 or more words

• Uses compound and complex sentences to describe ideas and objects

• Tells imaginative stories and communicates clearly with others