RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE MILESTONES
Receptive Language Skills: Ability to listen and comprehend language.
| Age | Milestone |
| 3 months | Recognizes familiar voices. |
| 4 months | Turns head to voice. |
| 5 months | Reacts to environmental sounds: Reacts to sounds other than voices. |
| 6-9 months | Understands “no”, anticipates events, understands some phrases (give kiss), Understands object permanence. |
| 12 months | Recognizes the name of common items, familiar people and action verbs, responds to simple requests (give to mommy), follows one step commands with gestures. |
| 15 months | Follows one step commands without gestures |
| 18 months | Identifies pictures in a book, points to body parts, and uses objects appropriately in play. |
| 2 years | Understands approximately 300 words, Listens to simple stories, Responds to yes/no and simple “wh” questions, Able to follow two step commands. |
| 3 years | Understands use of objects, understands the concept of turn taking, able to label parts of objects, understands simple descriptive adjectives, understands pronouns, comprehends approximately 500-1000 words, knows difference between sexes and own sex, knows simple spatial concepts (in/on/under), able to match and identify colors, understands some quantity concepts (one, all) |
| 4 years | Identifies categories, makes inferences, Understands analogies. |
| 5 years | Understands time concepts and qualitative concepts. Able to answer simple questions about a story. Letter and number recognition emerging or present. Able to understand 95% of what is said to them. |
| 6 years | Identifies items that don’t belong, able to order pictures from largest to smallest. |
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.
Language Developmental “Red Flags”
| Age | ◄Red Flag: warning signs |
| 0-3 months | Demonstrates feeding difficulties such as latching, sucking, swallowing) |
| 4-6 months | Difficulty imitating faces or sounds, not responding to sounds |
| 6-9 months | Aversion to various textures, not exploring objects with the mouth |