18 MONTHS

• No words or less than 8 words used consistently
• Few different speech sounds
• Not understanding routines e.g. “bath time”                 
• Not understanding names of familiar objects, e.g. shoes, teddy

UNDER 1

• Limited or no babbling
• Not responding to name or sounds
• Does not indicate when happy/upset
• Does not point to objects or gesture
  (wave “bye bye” or shake head for “no”)

2 YEARS

• Vocabulary of less than 50 words
• Not putting 2 words together e.g. “more juice”
• Not following simple instructions
• Little interest in social interaction

3 YEARS

• Not regularly putting 3+ words together
• Not putting together a variety of different sentences
• Not understanding questions like “Who…?” and “Where…?”
• Strangers have difficulty understanding what the child is saying

4 YEARS

• Not asking questions
• Not able to talk about previous events and say what they have been doing
• Speech is still difficult to understand at times

5 YEARS

• Not able to listen to a short story and ask questions about it
• Not able to repeat long sentences correctly
• Not following 3-step instructions

6 YEARS

• Difficulty acquiring literacy skills
• Difficulty with attention and memorization of facts
• Continuing to have grammatical errors in sentences
• Not able to tell a coherent story

• Listen and respond to your child
• Talk, read, and play with your child
• Talk with your child in the language you are most comfortable using
• Know it is good to teach your child to speak a second language
• Talk about what you are doing and what your child is doing
• Use a lot of different words with your child
• Use longer sentences as your child gets older
• Have your child play with other children
• Say the sounds correctly when you talk—it is okay if your child makes some mistakes with sounds
• Do not correct speech sounds—it is more important to let your child keep talking
• Give your child time to talk
• Do not interrupt or stop your child while he or she is speaking
• Listen and respond to your child