Language is something inherently human and one of the first things we learn in life during the early years of childhood.
Speech and language take years to fully develop and the first years of a baby are marked by fulminant, exciting milestones.
While these milestones are worthy of interest for any parent, each child is unique and might not mark them according to the average indicators present in charts. For our peace of mind, it’s important not to be stressed when there is a slight delay compared to what we see in other kids or what we read in textbooks.
Milestones for Speech Development
Based on numerous studies done in the field of pediatrics and psychology, certain thresholds occur most often at a certain age of a child. A slight delay or, on the contrary, an early development compared to these milestones should not worry parents, as long as there aren’t other symptoms present, or the delay is not too big.
- 1-3 months: babies cry and coo
- 4-6 months: you will notice different crying sounds, sighs, squeals, laughter, and other sounds.
- 6-9 months: the baby will start saying syllables like ma-ma, da-da, and they start imitating speech
- 1 year: the first words would have been already spoken by the baby
- 18 months-2 years: the child speaks in short sentences, accumulates a vocabulary of about 50 words
- 2-3 years: the child speaks in longer sentences, strangers can understand them, they can name most of the common things around them
- 3-5 years: conversations become more complex, and after 5 years the child can speak in grammatically correct sentences.
How to Help a Child Struggling with Speech
If you believe that your child is a bit late reaching these milestones, or you think they need more stimulation, repeat common phrases, use simple sentences, stimulate them with word games, tell descriptive stories, and read books with simple images.
If you have concerns about your child’s speech development, talk with your pediatrician, and they can help you determine any needed next steps.
The information and content on our website should not be used as a substitute for medical treatment or advice from your doctor.
