CDS 665: Language Milestones

Perlocutionary

Caregiver interprets behavior (crying, movement)

Illocutionary

Child deliberately directs an act to another person (reaching, pointing)

Locutionary

Child uses conventional linguistic forms (words/signs) to convey meaning

Developmental Milestones: 0-8 months

• Mainly develop phonology

• Perlocutionary behaviors

• Emergence of basic joint attention

Birth to 3 months

• Alerts to sounds

• Quiets or smiles when you talk

• Makes sounds back and forth with you

• Makes sounds that differ depending on whether they are happy or upset

• Coos, makes sounds like ooooo,aahh,mmmm

• Recognizes loved ones and some common objects

• Turns or looks toward voices or people talking

4-6 months

• Giggles and laughs

• Responds to facial expressions

• Looks at objects of interest and follows objects with their eyes

• Reacts to toys that make sounds, like those with bells or music

• Vocalizes during play or with objects in mouth

• Vocalizes different vowel sounds-sometimes combined with a consonant- like “uuuummmm”,”aaaaggooo”,”daaaaaa”

• Blows “raspberries”

7 to 9 months

• Looks at you when you call their name

• Stops for a moment when you say “no”

• Babbles long strings of sounds

• Looks for loved ones when upset

• Raises arms to be picked up

• Recognizes the names of some people and objects

• Pushes away unwanted objects

10 to 12 months

• By 10 months, reaches for objects

• Points, waves, and shows or gives objects

• Imitates and initiates gestures for engaging in social interactions and playing games

• Tries to copy sounds that you make

• Enjoys dancing

• Responds to simple words and phrases

• Says one or two words- like mama, dada,hi,bye

13 to 18 months

• Looks around when asked “where” questions, like “where’s your blanket”

• Follows directions, like “Give me the ball”, “Hug the teddy bear”, “Come here”, “Show me your nose”

• Points to make requests, to comment, or get information

• Shakes head for “no” and nods for “yes”

• Understands and uses words for common objects, some actions, and people in their lives

• Identifies one or more body parts

• Uses gestures when excited, like clapping or giving a high-five, or when being silly, like sticking out tongue

• Uses a combination of long strings of sounds, syllables, and real words with speech-like inflection

• Uses a combination of long strings of sounds, syllables, and real words with speech-like inflection

18-24 months: Content

• 100-300 productive words on average

• Red flag if fewer than 50 words by 24-months

• Comprehension of single words decontextualized

• Increased comprehension of two-word semantic relations

18-24 months: Use

• Greater number of words than gestures

• Adds communicative intents

• Frequency of communicative acts 7.5x/min

18-24 months: Form

• Two word utterances emerge

• Consistent word order (MLU 1-2 words)

• 50% intelligibility (CVC, two-syllable words emerge)

19-24 months

• Uses and understands at least 50 different words for food, toys, animals, and body parts

• Speech may not be always clear

• Puts two or more words together

• Follows two-step directions

• Uses words like me,mine, and you

• Uses words to ask for help

• Uses possessives, like Daddy’s sock

24-30 months: Content

• Understands basic wh- questions

• Understands 3-word sentences

• Still relying on nonlinguistic cues

• Vocabulary growth

24-30 months: Use

• Topic maintenence

• Adds communicative intents (lying)

• Early narratives emerge

24-30 months: Form

• Using multiword utterances

• Brown’s stage 2

• Use of negation

• Questions formed with rising intonation

• Semi-auxiliaries appear (gonna, wanna)

• Rhyme awareness

30-36 months: Content

• “Why” questions

• Comprehension of basic spatial terms

30-36 months: Use

• Increased topic maintenance

• Requests for clarification

• Sequence narratives emerge

30-36 months: Form

• Multiword utterances more common

• Brown’s stage 3 (MLU 2-2.5 words)

• Present tense

• Over-generalized past tense

• Speech intelligibility increases to 75%