Milestones versus Averages: A Guide to your child's communication milestones birth-3
Knowing when to contact a Speech Language Pathologist can be hard, but knowing the difference between a milestone and an average can help guide your decisions. As a parent and a SLP, I know all too well what it feels like to wait and see if your child meets their milestones.
To bring some clarity to this subject, let’s define the terms, milestone and average. A milestone is what 90% of children are able to do at a certain age. The average is what 50% of children are able to do at a certain age. A missed milestone is an essential time to call a speech pathologist to determine if a professional evaluation is needed. Watching and waiting when the milestone has been missed could further delay the development of this skill. Speech and Language skills build upon each other like bricks building a house. You would never skip pouring the foundation to your home, it would be unsteady and shaky. The same is true about speech and language skills, skipping or jumping beyond a milestone may cause your child to have a missing piece to his/her foundation. So when you notice that your child may have missed a milestone, please don’t hesitate to call and discuss your concerns. Here at The Speech Spot, a licensed Speech Therapist will always answer your call and gladly discuss with you your concerns and guide you to the next steps. In some cases, an evaluation is not recommended, and we provide you, your child’s first and best educator, with ideas and activities to work on your concerns at home.
To help guide you through your child’s speech and language developmental milestones, we have provided some common speech, language, and social/emotional milestones to be on the lookout for in your child. If your child has missed any of the following milestones by the age listed, it is time to call to discuss your concerns. All milestones provided by the CDC. The CDC has a wonderful website for all your developmental milestone concerns, https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html.
Additionally, social and emotional communication skills are very important to your child’s overall ability to communicate. Many parents don’t realize that it is within the scope of practice for a speech-language pathologist to address these concerns as well.
By 6 months:
Social and Emotional
Knows familiar faces and begins to know if someone is a stranger
Likes to play with others, especially parents
Responds to other people’s emotions and often seems happy
Likes to look at self in a mirror
Language/Communication
Responds to sounds by making sounds
Strings vowels together when babbling (“ah,” “eh,” “oh”) and likes taking turns with parent while making sounds
Responds to own name
Makes sounds to show joy and displeasure
Begins to say consonant sounds (jabbering with “m,” “b”)
By 12 months:
Social and Emotional
Is shy or nervous with strangers
Cries when mom or dad leaves
Has favorite things and people
Shows fear in some situations
Hands you a book when he wants to hear a story
Repeats sounds or actions to get attention
Puts out arm or leg to help with dressing
Plays games such as “peek-a-boo” and “pat-a-cake”
Language/Communication
Responds to simple spoken requests
Uses simple gestures, like shaking head “no” or waving “bye-bye”
Makes sounds with changes in tone (sounds more like speech)
Says “mama” and “dada” and exclamations like “uh-oh!”
Tries to say words you say
By 18 months:
Social and Emotional
Likes to hand things to others as play
May have temper tantrums
May be afraid of strangers
Shows affection to familiar people
Plays simple pretend, such as feeding a doll
May cling to caregivers in new situations
Points to show others something interesting
Explores alone but with parent close by
Language/Communication
Says several single words- has a vocabulary of around 20 words
Says and shakes head “no”
Points to show someone what he wants
By 2 years old:
Social and Emotional
Copies others, especially adults and older children
Gets excited when with other children
Shows more and more independence
Shows defiant behavior (doing what he has been told not to)
Plays mainly beside other children, but is beginning to include other children, such as in chase games
Language/Communication
Points to things or pictures when they are named
Knows names of familiar people and body parts
Says sentences with 2 to 4 words
Follows simple instructions
Repeats words overheard in conversation
Points to things in a book
By 3 years old:
Social and Emotional
Copies adults and friends
Shows affection for friends without prompting
Takes turns in games
Shows concern for crying friend
Understands the idea of “mine” and “his” or “hers”
Shows a wide range of emotions
Separates easily from mom and dad
May get upset with major changes in routine
Dresses and undresses self
Language/Communication
Follows instructions with 2 or 3 steps
Can name most familiar things
Understands words like “in,” “on,” and “under”
Says first name, age, and sex
Names a friend
Says words like “I,” “me,” “we,” and “you” and some plurals (cars, dogs, cats)
Talks well enough for strangers to understand most of the time
Carries on a conversation using 2 to 3 sentences
