Expressive Language Milestones

Hearing your child’s voice is a magical moment for families. Nothing is more exciting than hearing your child say mama or dada for the first time! As mentioned in our previous post, there are many pre-language skills that help your child increase attention, motivate, and understand the world around them to effectively communicate. Once your child has developed these pre-language skills, they will start to explore sounds, repeat words, and use language for communicative purposes.

It is important to remember every child develops skills at their own pace. However, every stage of development has milestones to help determine whether or not your child is progressing typically. Below outlines expressive language milestones from 6 months to 24 months. Please reach out to your child’s pediatrician or local speech-language pathologist if you have concerns regarding your child’s language development.

Typical Expressive Language Development

6-9 months

• Vocalizes four different syllables

• Vocalizes two-syllable combination, such as “baba”

• Makes noises during play

• Attempts to sing along with familiar songs

• Shouts or vocalizes to gain attention

9-12 months

• Says mama or dada meaningfully

• Repeats different early consonant and vowel combinations while babbling

• Uses environment sounds (beep, vroom) or animal sounds

• Vocalizes with a purpose

12-15 months

• Says or imitates between eight to ten words (may be approximations of words)

• Repeats new words frequently

• Names one object often

• Babbles with true words

• Says three animal sounds

• Combines vocalizations and gestures when asking for an object (pointing and saying “milk”)

15-18 months

• Child produces 15 words consistently

• Uses words to communicate more than pointing

• Ask questions by raising their intonation at the end of the word or phrase

• Child will name objects on request

• Uses a variety of early consonant sounds like p, b, t, d, n, m, and h

18-21 months

• Uses words frequently

• Will imitate two-to-three word phrases such as “help me” or “go red car”

• Child will occasionally produce two-word phrases on their own such as “block up”

21-24 months

• Produces two-word phrases on their own

• Uses three word phrases occasionally

• Refers to themself by name and uses early pronouns (me, my, I, mine)

• Learns new words constantly

If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development, please reach out for a speech and language evaluation. Seedlings Pediatric Therapy offers free consultations to discuss your concerns, and provides in-home speech and language evaluations.

References:

ChildTalk. “Child Talk.” How Many Words Should My Child Be Saying? A Quick Guide To Vocabulary Development, 1 Jan. 1970, www.talkingkids.org/2013/01/using-self-talk-and-parallel-talk-to.html.

Laura. “CHART 11 Skills Toddlers Master Before Words Emerge from Let's Talk About Talking.” Teachmetotalk.com, 28 May 2018, teachmetotalk.com/2018/04/18/chart-11-skills-toddlers-master-before-words-emerge-from-lets-talk-about-talking/.

Mattingly, Rhonda. “Typical Development .” Early Language Development . Early Language Development , 2016, Louisville, University of Louisville .

Mize, Laura. “11 Skils Toddlers Master Before Words Emerge.” Teach Me to Talk , Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP, teachmetotalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/CHART-of-11-Skills-Toddlers-Master-Before-Words-Emerge-from-Laura-Mize-and-teachmetotalk.com_.pdf.

Rossetti, Louis. Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale a Measure of Communication and Interaction. Pro-Ed, Distributor, 2006.

“The Effectiveness of Language Facilitation.” Leader Live - Happening Now in the Speech-Language-Hearing World, 29 May 2015, blog.asha.org/2014/05/22/the-effectiveness-of-language-facilitation/.