Developmental Milestones

Parents need to monitor their child’s interactions with and responses to sound and speech to determine if their development is “normal.” Here is a list of common hearing and communicative developmental milestones (provided by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association):

• Birth to 3 months: Reacts to loud sounds; calms or smiles when spoken to; recognizes your voice if crying and then calms; stops or starts sucking in response to sound while feeding; coos and makes sounds of pleasure; cries differently for different needs; smiles when he or she sees you.
• 4 to 6 months: Follows sounds with his or her eyes; responds to changes in the tone of your voice; notices toys that make sounds; pays attention to music; babbles in a speech-like way and uses many different sounds, including those beginning with p, b and m; laughs; babbles when excited or unhappy; makes gurgling sounds when alone or playing with you.
• 7 months to 1 year: Enjoys playing pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo; looks in the direction of sounds; listens when spoken to; knows words for common items such as “cup,” “shoe” or “juice”; responds to requests; babbles, using long and short groups of sounds; babbles to get and keep attention; communicates with gestures like waving or holding up arms; imitates different speech sounds; uses one or two words (“Hi,” “dog,” “Dada” or “Mama”) by first birthday.
• 1 to 2 years: Knows a few parts of the body and can point to them when asked; follows simple commands (“Roll the ball”) and understands simple questions (“Where is your shoe?”); enjoys simple stories, songs and rhymes; points to pictures, when named, in books; acquires new words regularly; uses some one- or two-word questions (“Go bye-bye?” or “Where kitty?”); puts two words together (“More cookie”); uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
• 2 to 3 years: Has a word for almost everything; uses two- or three-word phrases to talk about and ask for things; uses k, g, f, t, d and n sounds; speaks in a way family and friends can understand; names objects to ask for them or to direct attention to them.
• 3 to 4 years: Hears you when you call from another room; hears the TV or radio at the same sound level as other family members; answers simple “Who?” “What?” “Where?” and “Why?” questions; talks about activities at daycare, preschool or friends’ homes; uses sentences with four or more words; speaks easily without having to repeat syllables or words.
• 4 to 5 years: Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about it; hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school; uses sentences with many details; tells stories that stay on topic; communicates easily with other children and adults; says most sounds correctly except for a few (l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh and th); uses rhyming words; names some letters and numbers; uses adult grammar.