Babies 3 to 12 months |
From 6 months of age, they can tell who you are by hearing the tone of your voice and looking at your face |
In this period they will initially coo and laugh and play with sounds such as babbling (making repetitive sounds): 'ma-ma-ma-ma'. They will do this in a conversational manner and will take turns with you to 'talk.'
From 6 months, your baby will be vocalising tunefully, using different volumes and sounds e.g. ga-brrrr-le-dada-mmmm'
From 9 months, they will be making a longer sequence of sounds, which might sound like normal speech often called jargon.
|
From 3 months, your baby will turn their head to a sound and will quieten to a familiar voice.
From 6 months your baby will be showing more emotion and copying your sounds, facial expressions and gestures.
For example; 'raspberries', laughing, squealing, growling and using gestures (e.g. putting their arms up when they want to be carried).
|
Toddlers 1 to 3 years |
Initially, your child will have a better understanding of what is being said to them, compared to what they can actually say.
Commonly, they will respond to their own name and understand 'no' from 12 months onwards.
They will then start to understand simple instructions like 'get your shoes' by 18 months of age.
Your child will learn a lot of new words by listening to adults.
|
Gradually, their babbling or jargon will start to include real words.
At 15 months old, they might be able to say a few words.
From 18 months onwards, your child's ability to learn new words explodes to include familiar objects and people, body parts and animal noises.
You might have difficulty understanding them initially, especially when they mix babbling with real words but their speech should start to get clearer from age 2 years onwards.
By age 2, your toddler might be able to say 'I', 'you' and 'me' and use sentences with 2 to 3 words e.g. 'Mummy drink.'
At 3 years old, your child will be able to use sentences of 3 to 5 words and start asking 'why' to pretty much everything. They will know their name, age and colours. Strangers will probably be able to understand your child most of the time.
|
As their language is just developing, they might use a variety of gestures and noises to help their communication, such as:
-
To ask for something (eye contact, pointing)
-
To let you know what they think (shake head and push spoon away when they have had enough food)
-
To demonstrate understanding (nod, eye contact etc.)
As your child learns to talk, they will start copying how adults talk in conversation. So their voice may go up at the end of a question, or they might start frowning and wagging a finger if they are telling you off.
At 3 years old, they will start learning how to take turns when speaking and you might be able to have a chat with them.
|
Pre school 3 to 5 years |
At 3 years of age, they will understand most things you say and will follow instructions with 2 to 3 steps about familiar things e.g. 'go to your bedroom and get your jumper'
By 5 years of age, they will enjoy jokes and riddles.
|
At 3 years old, your child might be able to tell a simple story such as what has really happened during the day. Initially, they will need help to put things in the correct order e.g. Child: 'I go to shop' Parent: 'And what did we buy at the shop?' Child: 'Bread.'
Later, as their imagination develops, they will start telling 'made up' stories.
By 4 years of age, your child will speak in longer sentences of around 5 to 6 words. Other people will understand what he/she is saying most of the time.
By 5 years of age, they should be talking fluently. They will understand jokes.
|
|