Prietto Speech Therapy

By 18 months:

• follows one step directions, like “Go get your cup”.
• points to familiar objects in books when named
• identifies 3 body parts on self or a doll
• says between 10-50 words
• imitates sounds and words or parts of words
• can make animal noises/environmental sounds “beep”
• uses gestures like clapping and waving
• says or shakes head to indicate “no”

By 24 months:

• imitate words and sounds frequently
• says 50 to 200 words
• starts to put together two word phrases
• points to show items to caregiver
• engages in pretend play, such as feeding and patting baby doll
• looks in direction of named person or object, such as “Where’s Daddy?” or “Where’s your ball?”

By 36 months:

• uses at least 100 words
• adds an ‘s’ to words for plurals (cat-cats) and possessives (Mommy’s shoes)
• combines words to form phrases “Go Mommy!”
• names many objects
• asks “what’s that?”
• responds to yes/no questions appropriately
• answers basic wh- questions (who, what, where)
• understands and can follow some spatial directions (Put your cup IN the bag)
• follows two step directions (go get your ball and put it in the box)
• says their names

Each child meets milestones in their own time, and personalities, temperaments, individual differences and even birth order may play a role.

BUT if you or another caregiver is worried about your child’s speech and language development OR if your child is demonstrating frustration with not being understood, seems to be struggling to learn words or understand you, reach out to a speech and language therapist!