A child grows and develops and at his or her own individual pace. Still, experts have already charted children’s developmental milestones at different ages – meaning speech development [as well as motor, and vision and hearing development] tend to follow predictable path:
Age and speech development
- 6-8 weeks – Vocalizes
- 3 months – Makes vowel noises
- 5 months – Enjoys vocal play
- 6 months – Double syllable sounds such as ‘mumum’ and ‘dada’
- 9-10 months – Babbles tunefully
- 1 year – Babbles 2 or 3 words repeatedly
- 18 months – ‘Jargon’. Many intelligible words
- 2 years – Joins 2-3 words in sentences
- 3 years – Constantly asks questions. Speaks in sentences
- 4 years – Questioning at its height. Many infantile substitutions in speech
- 5 years – Fluent speech with few infantile substitutions in speech
- 6 years – Fluent speech
What you can do
If you are still unable to understand most of your toddler’s speech by age 1, see his/her doctor for a prompt evaluation. Your doctor will check your toddler for the cause of speech delay and will consider hearing problems to developmental disorders. Your doctor may also refer you to a speech-language pathologist if necessary. Treatment options depend on the cause of the speech delay.
Source: MayoClinic