By Victoria Pavelko, MS, CCC-SLP
August is “Back To School” Month. Here’s a quick developmental expectations checklist to help you determine if your child should be screened by a Speech Language Pathologist(SLP):
2-3 months of age: babbling and cooing is expected with single vowels: “aaaaa” or “ooooo”
6 months of age: your child should be turning towards your face and smiling when hearing your voice and seeing your face.
8 months of age: combination of syllables and consonant – vowel combinations: “da da da” or “ma ma ma”
9-10months of age: the understanding of ‘No’ begins along with the recognition of emotions; pediatricians should complete an initial screen for autism at this time.
At 1 year of age: we should hear at least 2 words other than ‘mama’ or ‘dada’
12-18 months of age: the beginning of following 1 step directions: ‘touch your belly’. Playing alongside another child along with the beginning of temper-tantrums
At 15 months of age: huge increase in nonsensical speech – we may not understand it all, but practice makes perfect!
At 2 years of age: we should hear between 25-50 words with the beginning of 2 word combinations, see a child point to requested pictures in a book, and ask for food or drink.
At 3 years of age: children are joining into nursery rhyme songs and able to follow directions: ‘take off your shoes and place them by the front door.’
By the age of 4 years – unfamiliar listeners should understand 75% of what is being said. This is the age we begin addressing stuttering behaviors also. Whole word repetitions need to be addressed sooner than later.
Here’s a list of some of the most common sounds and WHEN to expect them to be correctly produced:
By the age of 6: /k, g, d, t, ng, r, l/ should be mastered
By the age of 7: /ch, sh, j, th/ should be mastered
By the age of 8: /s, z, v,/ should be mastered
Parents, one of the most important thing to remember is EVERYONE develops on their own timeline and these are simply guidelines, NOT RULES. If something doesn’t ‘sound quite right’ or if you have questions, please contact us and we will set up an evaluation with our pediatric speech therapist.
Happy “Back to School” Month!