Communication milestones in child development from 0 to 5 years

Language development is perhaps one of the most amazing things to watch in a child’s development. It is a change that is created almost from nothing and from gurgling words appear to pass to sentences … the speed of what this happens is impressive, and unstoppable! Even before children can say their first words, they are already able to understand a great deal of language.

Children go through various stages in language development. The earliest form of language is to make sounds in the babbling that progresses into words. From there, children begin to put words together and make sentences. What we comment on below is only indicative, since children have their own developmental rhythm, but if at 18 months he does not say any words or does not try to communicate, then go to your pediatrician to assess the situation of your baby .

FROM 0 TO 3 MONTHS

It may seem surprising that language development begins immediately after birth.  During the first year of a child’s life, they are able to distinguish all the speech sounds that occur in the language. During the first three months of life, most babies begin to:

• • Hear sounds and respond to the speaker with your eyes

• • Differentiate the voices of parents from other people

• • Respond to change in volume and pitch of voice

• • React differently to the native language than to the non-native one

• • They communicate through crying, laughing, and babbling

• They begin to imitate sounds

3-6 MONTHS

Although babies cannot speak this does not mean that they do not communicate. They have early “conversations” that are based on sounds, gestures, looks, and facial expressions that help prepare for later language development. From the age of 3 to 6 months, most babies begin to:

• • Imitate simple vowels and consonant sounds

• • Exchanging facial expressions with caregivers such as smiling when the parent smiles

• Listen to the conversations of others

6 TO 9 MONTHS

During this stage, parents often notice that their child is becoming more and more vocal. In addition to babbling, many children begin to say their first words such as “mama,” “dada,” and “bye.”  Between the ages of six to nine months, most children begin to:

• • Make repetitive sounds in babbling

• • Use vocal and non-verbal cues to communicate with others

• Use gestures that you associate with simple words such as “hello” that you make by waving your hand in the form of greeting

9 TO 12 MONTHS

As children approach the year, their ability for language increases. While children can only produce a few words at this point, it is important to remember that they can understand much more. Babies begin to understand language almost twice as quickly as they learn to speak . Children between the ages of 9 and 12 months can:

• • Understand the names of many people and objects

• • Use body language and facial expressions to show how they feel

• • Stop actions when someone says “no” to you

• Say a few simple words

1 TO 2 YEARS

During the first year, the use of language begins to grow considerably. It is the two-word stage because most children begin to use simple two-word sentences. Starting at 18 months, children begin to learn about 9 to 10 new words per day. At one year of age, most children begin to:

• • Understand basic communication commands such as: “eat the bread”

• • Using the word “mine” to indicate possession of objects

• • Have a vocabulary that includes words that speak clearly

• • Use words that are less clear but that family members do understand

• Begins to match simple words to describe things or situations

2 TO 3 YEARS

During the second year, children begin to use language in more complex ways. By the age of 24 months, about half of all a child’s expressions have at least two words . During this developmental period, children also:

• • They use specific words to describe most things

• • The family understands them perfectly

• • Start using adverbs and adjectives

• They describe what happens during the day

3-4 YEARS

At age three, children begin to develop more advanced language and communication skills . Most people outside the family are able to understand what the child is saying at the moment and the child can hold conversations with two or three sentences at a time. Other skills that are beginning to emerge include:

• • Can understand and use sentences

• • Start using past tense and plurals

• • Able to follow a series of two to four prompts

• • Can understand and use sentences that use time: “Tomorrow I’m going to the park.”

• They learn and sing songs

4-5 YEARS

Between the ages of four and five, children become more and more adept at conversing.  Not only are they able to talk about cause and effect, but they can also use and understand different comparative languages , such as faster, faster, and much faster. Some other communication milestones that are achieved during this time period include:

• • Capable of following a chain of up to three unrelated instructions

• • Enjoy listening to longer stories and being able to remember them with some precision

• • Use sentences that average around four to five words

• • You can combine multiple thoughts in a single sentence

• • Asks questions about how, when and why things happen

• Can talk about imaginary or future things

Remember, all developmental milestones serve as a basic blueprint for development. All children learn and develop at different rates. However, if your child cannot reach certain milestones and it seems that he is not developing at the expected speed, it will be necessary for you to go to your doctor for an evaluation and they can know if he is really having an appropriate development for his age or if there is to value some additional evaluations.