| Birth to 5 months |
No words yet, but baby should be responding to sounds, producing vowel sounds and beginning to imitate sounds. |
Baby should watch your face when you speak, make a noise when spoken to, and vocalizing pleasure or displeasure sounds. |
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| 6 months to 11 months |
Baby should begin to babble (make sounds that are starting to sound like a word), and some children may have a few single words. |
Baby may try to communicate by pointing, reaching, or taking you to something he/she wants. |
Baby should respond by smiling when you are talking to him/her, and baby may shake or bang toys. |
| 12 months to 17 months |
Baby should be producing at least 5-10 words, and baby may begin putting 2 words together. |
Baby should be able to follow simple or familiar directions (Ex. Get shoes! Take a bite., etc.) and answer simple questions by nodding or shaking their head. |
Baby should be able to pay attention to a book or play for at least 2 minutes. Baby may enjoy playing simple games with a family member (Ex. Peek-a-boo, tickle games) |
| 18 months to 23 months |
Baby should be saying at least 8-10 words and begin putting 2 words together (Ex. More milk). |
Baby should be able to understand simple verbs (eat, sleep), and point to body parts. |
Baby should play with toys appropriately (such as blocks), may use 2 items in play (a bowl and a spoon), and perform play activities toward him/herself (feeding with play spoon). |
| 2 years to 3 years |
Baby should know at least 50 words. Baby may begin speaking in 2-3-word phrases (Ex. Want more cars). |
Baby should understand concepts such as “in” and “on”, answer simple questions, understand pronouns such as “I”, “me” and “your”. |
Baby should participate in pretend play (Ex. Playing with a toy phone and pretending to talk on it). |
| 3 years to 4 years |
Baby should be speaking in 3-4-word sentences. |
Baby should be asking several different types of questions, using possessive nouns and pronouns (his, hers, Mom’s, Dad’s), and be able to identify colors. |
Baby should be participating in symbolic play (pretending that something represents something else). |
| 4 years to 5 years |
Should understand more than 2,000 words and use grammatically complete sentences. |
Should use different forms of verbs, follow multi-step directions, describe objects, and understand how to rhyme words. |
Play should be more advanced in which the child is pretending something represents something else or using imagination skills. |
