Approximate Age | Receptive Language (Comprehension) | Expressive Language |
2 to 4 months | Turns head toward sounds and can begin to discriminate one sound from another. | Verbal play through cooing, gooing and laughing. Vowel sounds produced (i.e., “ooohh, eee, and ahhh”). |
4 to 8 months | Anticipates an event (e.g. peek-a-boo) and follows a line of regard (e.g. visually follows toy moving across floor) as well as joint attention (i.e. is capable of visually attending to object with caregiver). | Babbling begins. Some consonant are produced (i.e., ba, ma, pa). Continues vocal play and exploration. Reduplicated (e.g., baba, mama) babbling begins between 7-9 months. |
8 to 12 months | Relates words with physical objects (e.g. understands that the word “ball” actually means the object ball). Responds to simple phrases such as “no”. | Variegated babbling (e.g., madaga), Protowords or first word approximations appear. (Protowords = vocalizations that are used CONSISTENTLY by the infant to represent a familiar object or person. e.g. dada for daddy). Non-verbal communication. Jargon (i.e. unintelligible speech such as, baka la tama eee) is present. |
1 to 2 years | Increased attention to toys. Changes behavior in response to comments made to him/her. Knows a few simple commands with gestures needed at times. Understands simple questions. Points to simple pictures. | 50 words at 18 months (consist of many protowords), 50-200 words at 24 months. Uses mostly nouns and pronoun me/mine. Jargon (i.e. unintelligible speech) still present. |
2 to 3 years | Comprehension shows rapid increase. Responds to more 2 step commands with prepositions (e.g. Spatial conditions. Pick up the ball and put it on the table). Understands questions about object (what?), people (who?), and basic events (What _ doing? Where _ going?) | 150 words at age 2; 300-400 words and 75% intelligible speech at age 3 years. Awareness of rhyming emerges (24-30 months), Uses two-three word phrases frequently. Asks simple questions. Fluency can be poor. Jargon (unintelligible speech) mostly gone. Vowel sounds intact. Early emerging of ing, in, on, plural /s/. Use and understand negation between subject and verb (no, not, can't, don't). |
3 to 4 years | Understands 1500 words. Recognizes gender differences (he/she), plurals, pronouns, adjectives (eg. big), adverbs (eg. fast), and basic colors. Has awareness of the topic during conversation and is able to continue conversation by adding additional information. | Uses 600-1000 words and 3-4 word sentences. Pronouns and adjectives are used as well as some adverbs, prepositions, past tense and plurals. Articles appear (a, the) in sentences. Answers what, where and when questions. |
4 to 5 years | Comprehends 1500-2000 words. Understands if, because, why and when. Follows complex directions. | Vocabulary increases to 1000-1600 words and 4-6 word (complex) sentences. 3-4 syllable words are being used. 100 % speech intelligibility. Errors on /s/, /r/, /l/, /th/ may persit. Uses more adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions (and, because). Fluency improving. |
5 to 6 years | Understands 2500-2800 words. Understands more complicated sentences. | Vocabulary of 1500-2100 words. Uses complete 5-6 word sentences. Fluent speech. Many multi-syllabic words are used. |
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References
Gleason, J. B. (2005). The development of language. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Paul, R. (2001). Language disorders from infancy through adolescence: Assessment and intervention. St Louis: Mosby Inc.
Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (1999). How babies talk: The magic and mystery of language in the first three years of life. New York: Penguin Group.
