Birth - 3 Months
- Eye contact and visual preference for faces
- Shows preference for mother’s voice
- Differentiated crying – has different cries for different needs
- Smiles when caregiver appears
- First vocalizations of vowel-like sounds
- Starts to recognize voice of primary caregiver
4 - 6 Months
- Smiles more frequently
- Laughs with joy
- Vocalizes to caregiver’s smile and talk
- Makes throaty consonant sounds (k, g, h)
- Shows interest in his/her surroundings
- Enjoys being talked to
6 - 9 Months
- Locates source of sound by turning head towards the sound
- Babbles single syllables and uses early-developing consonants
- Responds to human speech by smiling and vocalizing
- Begins to understand words in context
- Understands a few gestures and words for common items
- Responds when called/gestured to (“Come here”, “Want more?”)
9 - 12 Months
- Jabbers in response to human voice
- Babbles to syllable words
- Understands and carries out basic commands
- Comprehends an assortment of action words (“drink”, “go”)
- Enjoys jingles and rhymes
- Understands about 50 words
12 - 18 Months
- Understands simple sentences
- Points to objects when named
- Follows a short series of commands (“wipe the dolls nose”)
- Comprehends 150-200 words
- Points to own nose, ears, mouth, etc… on request
- Knows his/her own name
18 - 24 Months
- Listens to simple stories
- Responds to commands such as “show me”
- Understands and answers simple “wh” questions
- Responds to yes/no by shaking or nodding head
- Identifies five body parts
- Comprehends on an average of 300 words
2 - 2.5 Years
- Enjoys listening to simple familiar stories read to them
- Enjoys hearing and listening to songs
- Follows 2 related commands (“pick up ball and give it to me”)
- Understands and responds to “what/where” questions
- Understands prepositions such as “in”, “under”, “in front”
- Comprehends nearly all sentence structures
2.5 - 3 Years
- Carries out commands with two different prepositions
- Responds/ follows to two unrelated commands
- Answers simple questions (“who, what where?”)
- Comprehends approximately 900-1200 words
- Understands taking turns
- Shows an interest in explanations of “why”, and “how”