Speech and language skills develop over time. Every child will develop at their own rate.
The checklist below also applies to children and families who speak more than one language at home (bilingual or multilingual children).
When a child does not develop one of the skills at the expected age, it does not always mean that there is a problem. f you have questions or concerns about the child’s skills, you can contact us. You do not need a doctor to refer.
Les capacités de la parole et du langage se développent au fil du temps. Chaque enfant se développera à son propre rythme.
La liste ci-dessous s’applique aussi aux enfants et aux familles qui parlent plus d’une langue à la maison (bilingues ou multilingues).
Lorsqu’un enfant n’acquiert pas l’une des compétences à l’âge attendu, cela ne signifie pas toujours qu’il y a un problème. Si vous avez des questions ou des préoccupations à propos des compétences de l’enfant, vous pouvez communiquer avec nous. Vous n’avez pas besoin de la recommandation d’un médecin.
Birth to 3 months | Enfant âgé de 0 à 3 mois
4 to 6 months | Enfant âgé de 4 à 6 mois
7 to 12 months
Does the child:
- Let you know what they want using sounds or actions like pointing
- Smile, coo, giggle, and babble
- Wave ‘hi’ and ‘bye’
- Give cuddles to people or toys
- Turn their heads in the right direction toward a sound
- React to their name
- Begin to follow simple directions like ‘wave hi’
- React to ‘no!’
- Listen to songs or stories for a short time
Call us if you feel concerned or if:
- The child is not doing most of the things in the above checklist.
- The child does not react to sounds.
- The child does not respond to your smiles.
- The child does not seem to enjoy playing games like peek-a-boo.
- The child does not babble or try to ‘talk’.
- The child used to babble but stopped.
What you can do to help
- Take turns ‘talking’ and making eye contact.
- Point to and name things.
- Play ‘people games’ like peek-a-boo and sing songs or nursery rhymes.
- Respond to the child – if they make a sound, make a sound back.
- Use gestures like clapping, blowing kisses, waving.
- Read picture books with the child every day.
- Show the child you’re interested in what they’re trying to tell you and talk to the child throughout the day.
12 to 18 months
Does the child:
- Use familiar words or name familiar objects
- Use the sounds p, b, m, h, and w in words
- Try to imitate simple words
- Follow 1-step directions like ‘roll the ball’ or ‘find the truck’
- Look at your face when you’re talking
- Smile and laugh when playing with you
- Give hugs and kisses to familiar people
- Have names for people they know best (even if pronunciation isn’t perfect)
- Enjoy looking at books with you
- Point to common body parts or pictures in a book when asked
- Hold the book right side up
Call us if you feel concerned or if:
- The child is not doing most of the things in the above checklist.
- The child does not use any words.
- The child used to use words but stopped.
- The child does not respond to your smiles.
- The child does not seem to enjoy ‘people games’ like tickles.
- The child rarely copies what you say or do.
What you can do to help
- Respond when the child points and talks.
- Talk to the child as you do things and go places.
- Use real words and short, complete sentences when talking to the child.
- Play with sounds. For example, pop bubbles and make a ‘p-p-p’ sound or make animal sounds.
- Add words to what the child says. If the child says ‘car’, you could say ‘Yes! A red car!’
- Read to the child every day. Talk about the pictures on the page.
- Point to pictures and name them. Pause to give the child a chance to copy.
- Add gestures when talking to the child (like waving, shrugging, pointing).
- Show the child you’re interested in what they’re trying to tell you and talk to the child throughout the day.
18 to 24 months
Does the child:
- Follow 1-step directions like ‘roll the ball’
- Uses p, b, m, h, and w in words
- Take turns back and forth in a simple conversation
- Understand simple words or phrases like ‘on the chair’ or ‘the big ball’
- Understand simple questions like a yes/no question or a wh- question like ‘where’s your shoe?’
- Begin to use two words together like ‘more apple’
- Name pictures in a book
- Use lots of new words (even if pronunciation isn’t perfect)
- Make animal sounds
- Point to common body parts or pictures in a book when you ask
- Hold the book right side up
- Enjoy being read to
Call us if you feel concerned or if:
- The child is not doing most of the things in the above checklist.
- The child does not use any words.
- The child used to use words but stopped.
- The child does not respond to your smiles.
- The child does not seem to enjoy ‘people games’ like tickles.
- The child rarely copies what you say or do.
What you can do to help
- Respond when the child points and talks.
- Talk to the child as you do things and go places.
- Use real words and short, complete sentences when talking to the child.
- Play with sounds. For example, pop bubbles and make a ‘p-p-p’ sound or make animal sounds.
- Add words to what the child says. If the child says ‘car’, you could say ‘Yes! A loud car!’
- Read to the child every day. Talk about the pictures on the page.
- Point to pictures and name them. Pause to give the child a chance to copy.
- Add gestures when talking to the child (like waving, shrugging, pointing).
- Show the child you’re interested in what they’re trying to tell you and talk to the child throughout the day.
2 to 3 years
Does the child:
- Use sentences of three or more words most of the time
- Try to say new words every week
- Ask ‘why?’
- Talk about things not in the room
- Use words like ‘in’/’on’ or ‘up’/’down’
- Begin to use regular past tense verbs like ‘walked’
- Begin to use plurals like ‘shoes’ or ‘socks’
- Speak clearly enough for people who know the child to understand them
- Use p, b, m, h, w, k, g, f, t, d, and n in words
- Follow two-part directions like ‘take the book and put it on the table’
- Answer simple questions like ‘where is the cat?’
- Have short conversations with you
- Remember how familiar stories or rhymes end
Call us if you feel concerned or if:
- The child is not doing most of the things in the above checklist.
- The child does not use many different kinds of words (action words (like ‘jump’), object words (like ‘cup’), describing words (like ‘small’), location words (like ‘under’).
- The child isn’t combining words into phrases or sentences.
- The child doesn’t interact or play with others.
- The child doesn’t seem to understand simple directions.
- Very few people (outside the family) can understand what the child says.
How you can help
- Repeat what the child says and add to it. If they say ‘big cookie’ you could say ‘It’s a very big cookie.’
- Let the child know what they say is important. If you don’t understand, ask in different ways for the child to try again like ‘I know you want a block. Which block do you want?’ or ask them to show you what they’re talking about.
- Read (and re-read) books to help grow the child’s vocabulary (names of objects, descriptive words, action words, etc). Include some story books.
- Look at family photos and name the people. Talk about what they’re doing in the pictures.
- Ask your child to make a choice rather than answering yes or no. For example, rather than asking ‘do you want cereal?’ you could ask ‘do you want cereal or toast?’. Wait for the answer and then let them know you heard them by responding (‘Okay. I’ll get you some toast’).
- Sings songs, play games, and recite nursery rhymes.
- Show the child you’re interested in what they’re trying to tell you and talk to the child throughout the day.
3 to 4 years
Does the child:
- Speak clearly so people understand them most of the time
- Ask and answer many questions
- Talk in sentences (maybe with a few grammar errors)
- Have enough words for most of the things in their life
- Use pronouns like ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘me’, ‘they’
- Tell a short story about their day
- Express ideas and feelings
- Make-believe in play (pretend to be a chef)
- Have fun with language – enjoy rhymes and simple jokes
- Understand that words belong in categories like ‘foods’ or ‘clothing’
- Describe the use of an object like ‘a cup is for drinking’
- Tell favourite parts of a story
- Pretend to read a book (look at the pictures, tell a story but not read what’s actually on the page)
- Recognize some letters of the alphabet
Call us if you feel concerned or if:
- The child is not doing most of the things in the above checklist.
- The child leaves off consonants at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of words (cat = at, puppy = puh-ee, goat = go)
- People who don’t know the child well have difficulty understanding what the child says.
- The child isn’t using full sentences.
- The child doesn’t interact or play with others.
- The child doesn’t seem to understand directions.
- The child doesn’t have a short back-and-forth conversation with you.
What you can do to help
- Talk about how objects go together (like a plate and a cup).
- Read, sing, and talk about where you go and what you do.
- Read story books every day. Tell them about your favourite part and ask them what theirs was.
- Read books and ask ‘what do you think will happen next?’
- Look for words that begin with the same sound.
- Point out numbers and letters.
- Look at pictures or photos and ask the child to tell a story about them.
- Act out daily activities like going to the doctor or cooking a meal.
- Show the child you’re interested in what they’re trying to tell you and talk to the child throughout the day.
4 to 5 years
Does the child:
- Participate in conversation even when there is background noise
- Hear and understand most of what is said at home or at school
- Pronounce most speech sounds correctly
- Follow longer directions like ‘wash your hands, get a cup, and come sit at the table’
- Understand words for order like ‘first’, ‘next’, ‘last’
- Ask and answer questions about a story
- Use rhyming words
- Name letters and numbers
- Understand space concepts like ‘behind’ or ‘on top’
- List items that belong in a category (like ‘animals’)
- Answer ‘why’ questions
- Describe the steps involved in an activity (like brushing teeth)
- Use sentences that give lots of details
- Communicate easily with other children and adults
- Use their imagination when playing with other children
Call us if you feel concerned or if:
- The child is not doing most of the things in the above checklist.
- People who don’t know the child well have difficulty understanding what the child says.
- The child isn’t using full sentences.
- The child doesn’t interact or play with others.
- The child doesn’t understand directions with three or more steps.
- The child doesn’t have a back-and-forth conversation with you.
What you can do to help
- Connect stories from books to the child’s life.
- Draw and write together.
- Identify letters in the child’s name.
- Talk about where things are in space using words like ‘on top of’ or ‘to the left of’.
- Let the child explain how to do something.
- Keep teaching new words. For example ‘Let’s put the clothes away. Here are some shirts. Shirts are types of clothing. Pants, and sock, and sweaters are also clothing’.
- Teach your child to ask for help.
- Act out stories using your imagination.
- Read story books every day. Tell them about your favourite part and ask them what theirs was.
- Play games like ‘I Spy’.
- Play board games.
- Ask the child to help you plan an event or the activities for the day.
- Show the child you’re interested in what they’re trying to tell you and talk to the child throughout the day.
Adapted from Speech-Language & Audiology Canada, 2014, Speech, Language and Hearing Milestones, www.sac-oac.ca.