Developmental Norms

Language norms, motor norms, precursors, play

Language Norms at 12 months (1 year)

• Babbling:

  • Reduplicated (same CV)

  • Variegated (varied CV);

  • Jargon (babbling that sounds like real speech)

• May have first words (2–5)

• Enjoys interaction & wants to communicate

• Understands own name

• Understands “no”

• Can give an object on request (when in sight, with gesture)

Language Norms at 18 months (1 ½ years)

• May use 15+ words consistently (may be unclear/approximations)

• Words + gestures may be mixed

• Makes at least 4 consonant sounds (p, b, m, n, d, t, w, h)

• Enjoys books / being read to with an adult

• Understands simple directions (“give this to daddy,” “take off your hat”)

• Learns new words weekly

• Can point to simple body parts (hair, eyes, nose) or pictures when labeled

• Vocabulary burst begins 🚀

Language Norms at 24 months (2 years)

• Uses 50–100 words

• Begins to combine 2 words (e.g., more juice, daddy go)

  • Should have a variety of word types (not just nouns)

• Understands ~300+ words

• Responds appropriately to yes/no questions

  • (verbal or nonverbal like nodding)

• Holds book upright and can turn pages

Language Norms at 30 months (2 ½ years)

• Uses about 250–350 words

• Understands ~500 words

• Is understood by familiar adults

• Follows simple 2-step commands (e.g., “get your coat and wait by the door”)

• Answers simple “who” and “what’s that?” questions

• Understands positional words: in, on, under, up, down

• Understands concept words: big/little, hot/cold, clean/dirty (in real-life contexts)

Language Norms at 36 months (3 years)

• Uses about 1,000 words

• Talks in short 3–5 word sentences (may not be grammatically correct, e.g., “I eated it”)

• Uses -ing endings (without the “is” verb, e.g., “me cooking”)

• Marks final consonants (no longer consistently deletes them)

• Speech should be ~90% intelligible to unfamiliar adults

• Answers “where” and “what’s he doing?” questions

• Carries on short conversations; participates in what’s happening around them

• Uses regular plurals (-s)

Language Norms at 42 months (3 ½ years)

• Grammar now includes:

  • Personal pronouns: I, you, my

  • Subject pronouns: he, she, they

  • Possessive pronouns: his, her, their

• Uses prepositions: on, in, under

• Uses negatives: don’t, can’t, won’t

• Accurately adds sounds f, k, g, s in words

• Uses copula: is big, are yellow

• Present progressive with auxiliary: is verbing (eg., she is running) 

• Uses possessive marker: mommy’s dress

Language Norms at 48 months (4 years)

• Expressive vocabulary of ~2,000+ words

• Produces sentences of 4+ words

• Can retell events with logical sequence

• Answers more complex questions (e.g., “What do you think will happen?”)

• Produces clear /l/, /ʃ/ (sh), and s-blends (e.g., stomp)

• Uses prepositions: behind, in front, beside

• Uses regular past tense (-ed)

• Uses third person present (e.g., he runs)

• Uses negatives: isn’t, aren’t, didn’t

• Follows 3-step commands

• Can listen to stories for ~15 minutes and recall details

• Enjoys simple, silly jokes

Language Norms at 60 months (5 years)

• Uses adult-like sentences (complete, grammatically correct)

• Participates fully in conversations

• Produces all sounds except /θ/ (th) and /r/; may still have an interdental /s/ (lisp)

• Understands long, verbal directions (e.g., “When grandpa arrives, tell him I am outside and help him with his suitcase”)

• Understands many descriptive words (soft, tallest, short, etc.)

• Can act out stories that have been read to them

• Uses reflexive pronouns (himself, herself)

• Uses past tense modals (could, would, should, might)

• Acquires /ʧ/ (ch) and /ʤ/ (ju) by 5 years

Language Functions in the Early Years

• 🏷 Labelling → usually nouns (dog, ball)

• 🧃 Requesting → wants/needs (juice, bottle)

• 🎨 Commenting → usually descriptive (blue, big)

• 🙅🏼‍♀️ Protesting → refusal (no, I don’t want to do that)

• 👋🏼 Greeting → social exchanges (hi, bye)

Language Precursors

(consider only when child is under 24 months & has limited vocabulary)

• 👀 Eye contact (Pragmatics)

• 🫱🏽‍🫲🏻 Joint attention (Pragmatics)

• 😄 Facial expression (Pragmatics)

• 👉🏼 Gestures (Pragmatics)

• 🔄 Turn-taking (Pragmatics)

• 🎁 Object permanence

• 🌍 Intent to interact with others or explore environment

• 👏🏼 Motoric imitation

• 🗣 Vocal imitation

• ⏳ Anticipation skills

• 🧸 Appropriate toy/object manipulation/object use/functional play

• ✅ Makes choices

• 🗨 Babbling (reduplicated → variegated)

• 🐮🚗 Vocables (e.g., animal noises, car noises)

• 🔤 Word approximations (consistent pairing of a syllable with an object, e.g., “ba” for “bottle”)

Fine Motor Milestones (6–9 months)

• 🤲🏼 Begins to grasp items by “raking” with the hand

• ✊🏼 Squeezes objects with hands

• 🤏🏼 Touches fingers together

• 🧸 Grasps a toy with both hands

• ☝🏼 Uses index finger to touch objects

• 👏🏼 Claps hands

Fine Motor Milestones (9–12 months)

• 🍎 Feeds self finger foods

• 🤏🏼 Grabs small objects with thumb and index finger (pincer grasp)

• 🥁 Bangs objects together

• 🧸 Holds a toy with one hand

Fine Motor Milestones (12 months–2 years)

• 🧱 Builds a block tower

• ✍🏼 Scribbles on paper

• 🥄 Eats with a spoon

• 📖 Turns one page of a book at a time

• 🖍 Holds crayon with fingertips and thumb (pincer grasp)

Fine Motor Milestones (2–3 years):

• 🚪 Turns a doorknob

• 🚿 Washes hands

• 🍴 Uses spoon and fork correctly

• 👕 Zips and unzips clothes

• 🫙 Places lids on / removes lids from canisters

• 🧵 Strings beads on yarn

Fine Motor Milestones (3–4 years)

• 👕 Unbuttons and buttons clothes

• ✂ Uses scissors to cut paper

• 🔺 Traces shapes on paper

Gross Motor Milestones (5 months)

• 🔄 Rolls over

Gross Motor Milestones (6–7 months)

• 🪑 Sits independently

Gross Motor Milestones (8–10 months)

• Crawling

Gross Motor Milestones (10–12 months)

• 🛋 Cruises around furniture

  • (pulls to stand, takes steps while holding on but won’t let go)

• 🎯 Reaches actively for toy (when sitting)

• 🧍🏼 Pulls to a standing position

• 🚶🏼 Takes first steps

Gross Motor Milestones (15 months)

• 🚶🏼 Walks alone well

• 🏋🏼 Squats and stands back up

• 🪜 Walks up and down steps holding a hand

Gross Motor Milestones (18 months)

• 🏃🏼 Runs (falls easily)

Gross Motor Milestones (2 years)

• 🚶🏼‍♂️ Walks and runs fairly well

• 🦘 Jumps with both feet

• 🧗🏼 Climbs stairs without support

• ⚽ Kicks a ball

Typical Speech Sound Errors (under 3 years)

• “tan’t” → can’t (substitution of /t/ for /k/)

• “dat” → that (substitution of /d/ for /ð/)

• “tootie” → cookie (fronting /k/ → /t/)

• “do” → go (substitution /d/ for /g/)

• “wook” → look (substitution /w/ for /l/, gliding)

• “bity” → fishy (substitution /b/ for /f/)

• “bas” → bath (stopping of /θ/ → /s/)

• “dump” → jump (substitution /d/ for /ʤ/)

• “top” → stop

• “bu” → blue

• “bu” → book (final consonant deletion)

Typical Language Errors (under 3 years)

• “Me do it” → instead of I (pronoun error)

• “Us goes” → instead of we went (verb tense/subject error)

• “Girl sleep” → instead of the girl is sleeping (missing articles & auxiliary)

• “Me no want bear” → instead of I don’t want the bear (negation/pronoun error)

• “Him shoe broked” → instead of his shoe is broken (possessive & verb tense error)

• “The mans have hats” → instead of the men have hats (overgeneralization of plural)

Westby Play Scale

Stage 1: 9–12 months

• 🎁 Object permanence → awareness objects exist when not seen; finds toy hidden under scarf

• 🪀 Means–end behaviour → crawls or walks to get what is wanted; pulls string toys

• 🧸 Toy use → does not mouth or bang all toys; some toys used appropriately

Westby Play Scale

Stage 2: 13–17 months (1;1 – 1;5 years)

• 🧩 Purposeful exploration of toys → discovers operation through trial & error; uses variety of motoric schemas

• 🤲🏼 Hands toy to adult if unable to operate

Westby Play Scale

Stage 3: 17–19 months (1;5 – 1;7 years)

• 😴 Autosymbolic play → pretends to go to sleep, drink from a cup, or eat from spoon

• 🧸 Uses common objects/toys appropriately

• 🪵 Tool-use → e.g., uses stick to reach a toy

• 📦 Finds toys when invisibly hidden (in a box or another room)

Westby Play Scale

Stage 4: 19–22 months (1;7 – 1;10 years)

🎭 Symbolic play extends beyond self:

• 🍼 Plays with dolls → brushes doll’s hair, feeds doll, covers doll with blanket

• 👩‍👧 Pretend activities on multiple people/objects → e.g., feeds self, a doll, mother, another child

Westby Play Scale

Stage 5: 24 months (2 years)

 

• 🏠 Represents daily experiences / plays house → is the mommy, daddy, or baby; uses realistic, life-size objects

• 🍲 Events short & isolated → some self-limiting sequences (puts food in bowl, stirs, eats)

• 🧱 Block play → stacking & knocking down

• 🌊 Sand & water play → filling, pouring, dumping

Hierarchy of Production

1. 🗣 Imitative elicited → “Say boat” → child says “boat”

2. 🐮 Elicited production → “What does a cow say?” → child says “moo”

3. 👶🏽 Spontaneous imitation → Adult: “Look at the baby” → child repeats “baby”

4. 🧃 Spontaneous production → Child says “juice” with no prompting or modelling