Is My Child's Speech and Language Development on Track? A Brief Guide for Parents of Children Birth-Age 6
At Resonate Music Therapy, we understand that loved ones, parents, and guardians, want their children to be happy, fulfilled people who can clearly communicate wants, protests, thoughts, ideas, advocate for themselves, and generally share their internal world with others!
A crucial area of development in this regard is communication. At Resonate Music Therapy in Colorado Springs, we’re here to support children's communication skills at all ages and levels! Communication includes receptive language (how a child understands what is said), expressive language (how they use words and formulate sentences), speech sound production (how they produce sounds and combine them to formulate words), social language, and pre-literacy/reading skills. Let's explore the key milestones in communication development from birth through age 6 - these are based on Linguisystems Guide to Communication Milestones, and reviewed by our phenomenal speech therapist, Sarah Killian.
Disclaimer: This blog post provides general information about communication developmental milestones. It's important to note that autistic and neurodivergent children in particular may develop skills at different rates or in different orders than what is expected (what loved ones may be looking for, or what might be expected from research-based norms on the general population). The information presented here should not be used as a diagnostic tool, and we all bloom in our own time! Sometimes, we do need a bit of help to bloom as much as we’re capable of. We recommend a formal speech therapy evaluation if you have any concerns at all, since this is ultimately what will determine if support would benefit your child. We’ll discuss this more at the end of this post.
We provide speech therapy (as well as music therapy services) at our clinic in Colorado Springs Colorado, and if we can’t help you, we’ll help you find someone who can! We’re in-network providers with Medicaid, and are certified out-of-network providers with Tricare. We also have a private pay rate.
Now - on to the milestones! This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a few milestones related to communication development that can serve as a general guide.
Speech and Language Milestones: An Overview
Birth to 3 Months
Startles at loud sounds
Quiets or smiles when spoken to
Recognizes parent's voice and quiets if crying
Increases or decreases sucking behavior in response to sound
Makes pleasure sounds (cooing, gooing)
Cries differently for different needs
Smiles when sees you
4 to 6 Months
Follows sounds with eyes
Responds to changes in tone of voice
Notices toys that make sounds
Pays attention to music
Babbles in a speech-like way and uses many different sounds, including p, b, and m (e.g., bah, puh)
Chuckles and laughs
Vocalizes excitement and displeasure
Makes gurgling sounds when left alone and when playing with you
7 Months to 1 Year
Enjoys playing shared games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake
Turns and looks in direction of sounds
Listens when spoken to
Understands words for common items like "cup", "shoe", "book", or "juice"
Begins to respond to requests ("Come here" or "Want more?")
Babbling has both long and short groups of sounds such as "tata bibibibi"
Uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep attention
Imitates different speech sounds
Has one or two words ("Hi", "dog", "Dada", or "Mama") around first birthday, although sounds may not be clear
1 to 2 Years
Points to a few body parts when asked
Follows simple commands and understands simple questions ("Roll the ball", "Kiss the baby", "Where's your shoe?")
Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes
Points to pictures in a book when named
Acquires new words on a regular basis
Uses some one- or two-word questions ("Where?”, "Go bye-bye?", "What's that?")
Begins to combine two words together ("more cookie", "no juice", "mommy book")
Uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words (p, b, m, h, w)
2 to 3 Years
Has a word for almost everything
Uses two- or three-word phrases to talk about and ask for things
Starts to add additional consonant sounds (t, d, k, g, f, n)
Speech is understood by familiar listeners most of the time
Often asks for or directs attention to objects by naming them
Understands differences in meaning ("go/stop", "in/on", "big/little", "up/down")
Follows two-step requests ("Get the book and put it on the table")
Has a word approximation for almost everything
Understands simple time concepts: "last night", "tomorrow"
Refers to self by name
Uses 2-3 word sentences
Imitative of words and actions
Has 450 words by 30 months
Uses short sentences like "Me want more" or "Me want cookie"
Matches 3-4 colors
Understands common action words (e.g., kick, eat, wash)
Understands pronouns “I” “me” “mine” and “you”
3 to 4 Years
Talks about activities at school or at friends' homes
Uses a variety = of sentences that have 4 or more words
Usually talks easily without repeating syllables or words
Produces a variety of syllable shapes (e.g., ma, daddy, babydoll)
Answers simple questions about a storybook
Listens to longer stories and can answer simple questions about them
Understands color and shape words (e.g., red, blue, circle, triangle) and can start to name them
Understands words for family, like brother, grandmother, and aunt
Can tell a story
Uses action words with -ing (e.g., washing, eating), plurals (e.g., doggies, and possessives (e.g., mommy’s)
Has a sentence length of 3-5 words
Has a vocabulary of nearly 1000 words
Understands "yesterday," "summer," "lunchtime," "tonight," "little/big"
Begins to understand directions with spatial concepts (e.g., "put the block under the chair")
Knows their last name, name of street they live on and several nursery rhymes
Engages in spatial and motor games with rules (e.g., taking turns on a slide with peers)
Produces additional speech sounds correctly (f, v, l, ch) and produces final consonants (e.g., “doG” not “do”)
Understands "same" and "different"
Understands rhyming words (e.g., cat and hat)
4 to 5 Years
Speech is understood by others 100% of the time
Uses sentences with 4-5+ words at least
Uses sentences that give lots of details ("The biggest peach is mine")
Tells stories that stick to topic
Communicates easily with other children and adults
Says most sounds correctly (including s, l, and emerging r)
Uses the same grammar as the rest of the family
Understands words for order, like first, next, and last
Understands words for time, like yesterday, today, and tomorrow
Follows longer directions, like "Put your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and then pick out a book"
Follows classroom directions, like "Draw a circle on your paper around something you eat"
Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school
Can say name and address
Recognizes common opposites like hard/soft
Likes to sing, act, and dance
Listens attentively to age-appropriate stories
Makes few grammatical errors (uses negation [it’s not mine], past tense [mommy was working], and action/modified phrases [she IS swimming, it IS big])
Knows spatial relations like "on top," "behind," "far," and "near"
Able to isolate sounds in the beginning of words (e.g., dog starts with “duh”)
5 to 6 Years
Says all speech sounds in words
Responds to "What did you say?"
Talks without repeating sounds or words most of the time
Names letters and numbers
Uses sentences that have more than 1 action word, like jump, play, and get. May make some mistakes, like "Zach gots 2 video games, but I got one"
Tells a short story as well as talks about daily activities in conversational exchanges
Speaks clearly enough that people outside of the family usually understand the child's speech
Uses most speech sounds, but may distort some of the more difficult sounds, such as r and th which should be emerging
Uses compound and complex sentences
Describes objects
Uses imagination to create stories
Has a sentence length 6+ words
Has a vocabulary of around 2,000 words
Knows their address
Identifies a penny, nickel, and dime
Knows common concepts like “more/less”
Counts ten objects
Asks questions for information
Distinguished left and right hand in theirself
Uses all types of sentences, for example "Let's go to the store after we eat"
Can segment words into sounds (e.g., dog: d-o-g) and blend together
Able to match sounds to letters
If your child isn’t meeting milestones on this list, you can ask your pediatrician for a referral to a speech therapist in your area. Remember, every child develops at their own pace, but if you have concerns about your child's speech and language development, it's always best to consult with a professional. Developmental milestones do provide a good framework for considering where your child is at, compared to other similarly aged children based on researched norms of the general population.
At Resonate Music Therapy in Colorado Springs, we offer comprehensive speech therapy services to support your child's communication journey. Our speech-language pathologist, Sarah Killian, M.S., CCC-SLP, is experienced in working with both neurotypical and neurodivergent clients, and we use a play-based, neuroaffirming approach to therapy. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns about your child's speech and language development. Early intervention can make a significant difference in your child's communication skills and overall development. It’s also never too late!
If you are in Colorado Springs (or want to receive care with us virtually while located in the state of Colorado)- we can help set you up, or see if services are needed in multiple different ways. We can do a short in-person screening to see if an evaluation is needed, send a more detailed list of developmental milestones based on your child’s age and see where they’re at to determine if a screening or evaluation is needed, or even review a video of your child talking/communicating to see about the next steps. We’re here to help make services as accessible as possible.
At Resonate, we are a certified out-of-network provider with Medicaid, NO referral is needed for a speech therapy evaluation. We can generally verify benefits within a day, and get you started at Resonate as soon as possible. Best of all - our speech therapist Sarah is genuinely great at what she does, and provides tangible help. She has 7 years of targeted experience with kids! We have expertise in AAC, gestalt language processing, autistic communication with a neuroaffirming approach, and more.
Email at staff@resonatemt.com, or text/call us at 719-354-0893 to move forward. If we can’t help you at our clinic in Colorado Springs (for either speech therapy or music therapy), we’ll find someone who can!