Kids Develop Speech and Language at Different Rates

Before you explore the speech-language milestones understand that kids develop at different rates.

The tabs below offer a quick read resource to get you started. After reading those, if you are concerned about speech delay or a disorder you can read these other more detailed resources.

After exploring these resources. if you have any concerns talk to your pediatrician or a speech pathologist.

You can find equally important Feeding Milestones here.

Speech-development-milestones-ages-0-to-3-months

Speech and Language Development Milestones for Ages 0 to 3 Months

  • WIll react to loud sounds.
  • Recognizes your voice.
  • Coos
  • Smiles when he or she sees you
  • Develops different cries to meet varying needs.
  • Produces vowel like sounds.
  • Makes pleasure sounds.

Speech-development-milestones-ages-4-to-6-months

Speech and Language Development Milestones for Ages 4 to 6 Months

  • Follows sounds with his or her eyes.
  • Laughs
  • Notices toys that make sounds and music.
  • Produce a few back sound consonants (g or k)
  • Recognizes changes of tone of your voice.
  • Babbles using with more vowel sounds and more consonants (p,b or m)
  • Begins to copy sounds while babbling.
  • Smiles when he or she sees you
  • Develops different cries to meet varying needs.
  • Yells, squeals and growls with some pitch changes.

Speech-development-milestones-ages-7-to-12-months

Speech and Language Development Milestones for Ages 7 to 12 Months

  • Repetitive long and short sounds (dada, tata, bibi).
  • Consistent pitch changes with meaning.
  • Turns and looks in the direction of sounds.
  • Listens more attentively.
  • Understands common words like momma, dadda, cup, and juice.
  • Responds to commands or questions (Come here, want more?, want up?).
  • Knows a couple of words and exclamations (Ooh, Ahh, hi, baba, mamma, dadda, dog).
  • Communicates with hand gestures (waves, lifts arms to be picked up).
  • Develops different cries to meet varying needs.
  • Yells, squeals, growls and gurgles with some pitch changes.
  • Non-repetitive babbling begins (Ba-ga-de, go-do-da-di)

Speech-development-milestones-ages-1-to-2-years

Speech and Language Development Milestones for Ages 1 to 2 Years

  • First words (10-15 months).
  • Holophrastic speech (A single word expresses a complex idea – “Ball” means “I want the ball” or “Where is the ball?”)
  • Phases (uh-oh, all gone, no no, bye-bye).
  • Uses many consonant sounds at beginning or words.
  • Knows a few body parts.
  • Follows simple commands or questions (Roll the ball, walk to me, where’s your nose?)
  • Enjoys hearing simple songs, stories and rhymes.
  • Can point to pictures in a book when asked (Wheres the ball?)
  • Adds new words constantly.
  • Uses one or two word sentences (Where dada? Go bye, bye, want up, no cookie, no juice).
  • Non-repetitive babbling begins (Ba-ga-de, go-d0-da-di)
  • Knows a couple of words and exclamations (Ooh, Ahh, hi, baba, mamma, dadda, dog).

Speech-development-milestones-ages-3-to-4-years

Speech and Language Development Milestones for Ages 3 to 4 Years

  • Answers simple questions (Who?, What?, Where? and Why?)
  • Talks about daily activities.
  • Uses sentences with four or more.
  • Speaks easily without having to repeat syllables or words.
  • Follows simple commands or questions (Roll the ball, walk to me, where’s your nose?)
  • Enjoys hearing simple songs, stories and rhymes.
  • Can point to pictures in a book when asked (Wheres the ball?)
  • Adds new words constantly.
  • Uses one or two word sentences (Where dada? Go bye, bye, want up, no cookie, no juice).
  • Non-repetitive babbling begins (Ba-ga-de, go-d0-da-di)
  • Knows a couple of words and exclamations (Ooh, Ahh, hi, baba, mamma, dadda, dog).

Speech-development-milestones-ages-4-to-10-years

Speech and Language Development Milestones for Ages 4 to 10 Years

  • (4 years old) Can say the following sounds correctly (b,d,f,g,h,k,m,n,p,t,y).
  • (4 years old) Might still make errors with (l,r,s and th).
  • (4 years old) Can be understood by family members and non-family.
  • (4 years old) Most phonological processes should stop.
  • (5 years old) All phonological processes should stop.
  • (6 years old) Correctly produce the following sounds (l,j,v,ch,sh).
  • (6 years old) Errors can still occur commonly for sounds like (s,r,z,th) but should be decreasing.
  • (7 years old) 100% understandable.
  • (8 years old) Errors can still occur commonly for sounds like (s,r,z,th) but should be decreasing.
  • (9 and 10 years old) Says all sounds now incldung (s,r,z and th)
  • (9 and 10 years old) Might have some trouble with difficult words like (Aluminum, whistle, adjective, scissors, spaghetti)
  • (10 and 11 years old) There should be no speech problems by this age with the exception of the r sound which can be a lingering issue.