EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE MILESTONES
Expressive Language Skills: Ability to communicate thoughts and feeling through vocalizations, gestures, expressions, or signs.
| Age | Milestone |
| 3 months | Cooing: Early vowel sounds a baby makes. (oohs and aahs) |
| 4 months | Laughing: Laughs or giggles when stimulated by silly faces and tickling. |
| 5 months | Razzing/raspberries: A great oral exercise your baby engages in possibly to gain attention. |
| 6 months | Babbling: When baby combines consonants and vowels. (da da da or ma ma ma) |
| 7-9 months | Protests: Protests when a toy is taken away. |
| 10 months | Mama/Dada meaningfully: Baby relates “mama” and “dada” with the caregivers |
| 12 months | Words: Meaningfully uses one to three words. |
| 18 months |
Jargon: Strings together many sounds, adding intonation and gestures as if they are asking a question or telling a story in another language.
Repeating: Repeats some words and begins using more words than gestures to communicate |
| 2 years |
Combines two words: Joins two words together. (bye dada) (want juice) Asks questions: Asks questions with rising intonation. Responds to Yes/no questions: May only shake head. Words: Meaningfully uses approximately 50 words. Labels familiar objects by name Produces animal sounds Identifies at least five pictures by name Identifies self by name Says “no” Talks to self while playing Intelligibility: Approximately 65% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener by age two. |
| 2 1/2years |
Phrases: Able to combine three to four words to form short phrases.
Intelligibility: Approximately 70% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener. Words: Meaningfully uses 200 words. Actions: Able to identify actions in pictures Function: Able to identify the use of some objects. Answers: Answers simple “wh” questions logically. Able to use plurals and simple prepositions (in and on) |
| 3 years |
Words: Vocabulary of approximately 500-1000 words
Intelligibility: Approximately 75% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener. Pronouns: Uses pronouns appropriately. Answer more complex “wh” questions logically. (who, why, where, how)
Articles and Auxiliaries present: “the” and “a”, and “is” “am” |
| 3 1/2years | Able to use possessives and irregular past tense verbs. |
| 4 years |
Intelligibility: Approximately 95% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners.
Able to use regular past tense verbs. |
| 5 years | Able to compare similarities, repeat sentences, use adjectives for describing, name categories and complete analogies |
| 6 years | Defines words, may rhyme words, tell a story in sequence, repairs grammatical errors, and expresses quantity. |
All children develop at their own pace. This chart identifies the average time line for milestone development. It is not to be used to determine whether or not your child has a developmental delay. If you are concerned about your child’s development, see a Speech-Language Pathologist.