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  • Turns, smiles, and gazes at sounds

  • Responds to inhibitory words (“No” “Stop”)

  • Communicates wants and needs via gestures or crying

  • Responds to questions and requests (“Want more?” “Come here”)

  • Recognizes faces, objects, and familiar names

  • Uses gestures to communicate (waving goodbye, reaches arms to be carried)

  • Understands common words used in their daily routines

Infant to 1 year

Language Milestones

  • Coos at 3 months

  • Begins to babble at 6 months

  • Produces vowel sounds and consonants (p, b, m, k, g)

  • Produces repetitive sounds (dada, mama, baba)

  • Babbles using non reduplicated syllables

Speech Milestones

  • Begins to say first words (10-15 months)

  • Uses more than 50 words and understands more than 300 words

  • Produces common 2-word phrases (“uh-oh”, “all gone”, “bye-bye”, “where go?”)

  • Identifies basic common objects

  • Demonstrates joint attention

  • Follows simple commands with gestures (“throw the ball”)

1-2 Years

Language Milestones

  • Imitates inflection, sounds, and words

  • Child begins to use different consonant and vowel combinations by the age of 2

  • Speech is mostly understood by family and friends (~50% intelligible to familiar listeners by the age of 2)

Speech Milestones

  • Produces 3-word phrases to request or comment (“I want juice”)

  • Uses 250-400 words and understands about 1,000 words

  • Names familiar objects in his/her environment

  • Understands/identifies action verbs (playing, eating, drinking, sleeping, etc)

  • Understands/uses pronouns

  • Answers and asks simple “wh”-questions (e.g., “what is that”)

  • Follows 2-step simple directions, including prepositions (“Get blocks and put in box”)

  • Emerging literacy skills (enjoys being read to)

2-3 Years

Language Milestones

  • Produces consonant sounds: p, b, m, n, w, h, t, d, k, g, ng, y.

  • Speech is ~75% understood by unfamiliar listeners by the age of 3

  • Often shorten/eliminate syllables in words (“nana” for “banana”)

  • Some substitutions and distortions of consonants

Speech Milestones

  • Produces 4-5 word sentences

  • Uses 1,000-1,500 words and understands 1,500-2,000 words

  • Uses name, age, gender

  • Tells stories and can have long conversations

  • Describes object functions

  • Answers simple questions

  • Follows 2-3 step commands, including spatial concepts (in front, behind, next to, etc)

  • Understands categories (foods, toys, etc)

  • Knows pronouns (you, me, her) and begins to use descriptive words (small, happy)

3-4 Years

Language Milestones

  • Speech is 75-100% and understood by unfamiliar listeners

  • Common evident phonological processes: Stopping (“tock” for “sock”), Gliding (“wight” for “light”) and cluster reduction (“poon” for “spoon”)

Speech Milestones

  • Uses 2,000+ words and understands between 1,500-3,000 words

  • Produces 5-6 word sentences

  • Recalls stories or parts of stories

  • Understands sequencing of events (first/middle/last)

  • Knows prepositions (between, above, top bottom)

  • Asks “how,” “why,” and “when” questions

  • Understands same and different 

  • Displays emerging orientation skills

4-5 Years

Language Milestones

  • Uses most consonant sounds consistently and accurately

  • Speech is 75% - 100% understood by unfamiliar listeners

  • Errors with r, l, s, and th are common

Speech Milestones

  • Understands 10,000+ words by the age of 6

  • Speaks 6+ word sentences

  • Uses simple and complex sentences with some grammatical errors

  • Knows the label, category and function of common objects

  • Names things when actions are described

  • Follows 3-step commands

  • Understands opposites (“The opposite of cold is…”)

5-6 Years

Language Milestones

  • Speech is 90% - 100% intelligible by unfamiliar listeners

  • Errors for sounds s, r, z, th are common

Speech Milestones

  • Understands 20,000-25,000 words

  • Asks the meaning of unfamiliar words

  • Emerging reading skills

  • Identifies letters, numbers, shapes

  • Prints full name

6-7 Years

Language Milestones

  • Speech is 100% intelligible by unfamiliar listeners

  • Sounds mastered by age 7: r, j, sh, ch, voiceless th (by age 8: voiced th, s, z, v)

  • Blends mastered by age 7: dr, cl, bl, gl, tr, st, sl, sw, sp

  • Consonants mastered by age 7: sh

Speech Milestones

How do I know

if my child has

speech therapy

services?

How does

payment work?

Currently accepting private pay, TriWest, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Wellpoint Texas, Superior Health.

How long

are sessions?

Sessions are based on your child’s needs. Frequency ranges from 30 - 45 min sessions or 45 - 60 min sessions 1 or 2 times per week.

FAQs and Parent Resources:

FAQs & PRs

Speech and Language Developmental Milestones

Expressive Language

Your child might have difficulty using language. He or she might not be saying many words, could be having difficulty with putting words together in the right form or order (grammar), or knowing the appropriate names for things (vocabulary).

Receptive Language

Your child may have difficulty understanding language. For example, following directions, answering questions appropriately, or understanding what certain words mean might be difficult for them.

Phonology

Your child may have difficulty with patterns of sounds, such as leaving off the beginning or ending sounds in words. For example, saying "ca" for "cat" or "si" for "sit".

Articulation

Your child may have difficulty saying a certain sound or words. For example, saying "wain" for "rain" or "fink" for "think".

Fluency/

Stuttering

Your child might be repeating parts of words, whole words, or phrases. He or she might appear to be struggling to get words out. For example, "I-I-I see a cat." or "Let's go, let's go, let's go to the store."

A speech therapy evaluation is recommended

if your child has difficulty with any of the following:

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