milestones for language development

0-6 months

prelinguistic vocalization that includes crying, cooing, babbling, and echolalia

6-12 months

prelinguistic vocalization that includes vocal play, canonical babbling, and jargon

12-24 months

child progresses from use of primarily vocalizations and gestures to first true word to use of 50 words (18 months) and two-word sentences by the end of this stage

2 years

child begins using 2-3 word sentences and following two step directions

3-4 years

several consonants are established, children speak in 3-4 word sentences, begin using wh- questions, and start telling narratives

4-5 years

brown’s morphemes are mostly mastered, the child is fully intelligible and using full sentences, begin speaking in future tense and passive voice, and begin to judge grammatical correctness

5-6 years

children decrease grammatical errors, begin using a language form that approximates the adult model, use possessives and negatives consistently, understand humor and surprise

6-7 years

children use reflexive pronouns and perfect tense forms, begin to produce gerunds and derivational morphemes, and become aware of mistakes in other people’s speech

7-8 years

children use predominantly complex and compound sentences, interpret jokes and riddles literally, anticipate story endings and use some figurative language, are able to roleplay, and enjoy telling stories