FAQ - Development milestones

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In regards to Understanding 

• understand about 10 words
• respond to their name
• recognise greetings and gestures, such as "hi" and "bye-bye"
• recognise a few familiar people and objects (e.g, mummy, blankie, teddy)
• make eye contact

In regards to Speaking 

• start to use sounds, gestures and say a few words
• continue to babble
• copy different sounds and noises

In regards to Understanding 

• understand up to 50 words and some short phrases
• follow simple instructions (e.g, "throw the ball")
• point to familiar objects when named
• point to some pictures in familiar books.

In regards to Speaking 

• say 6 to 20 single words - some easier to understand than others, but becoming more consistent
• copy lots of words and noises
• name a few body parts
• use objects in pretend play (e.g, hold toy phone to their ear and say "hello")

In regards to Understanding 

• follow simple two part instructions (e.g, "give me the ball and the car")
• respond to simple wh-questions, such as "what" and "where"
• point to several body parts and pictures in books when named
• understand when an object is "in" and "on" something

In regards to Speaking 

• say more than 50 single words
• put two words together (e.g, "bye daddy", "no ball")
• use their tone of voice to ask a question (e.g, "taffy go?")
• say "no" when they do not want something
• use most vowel sounds and a variety of consonants (m, n, p, b, k, g, h, w, t, d)
• start to use "mine" and "my"

In regards to Understanding 

• follow more complex two part instructions (e.g, "give me the teddy and throw the ball")
• understand simple wh-questions, such as "what", "where" and "who"
• understand the concepts of "same" and "different"
• sort items into groups when asked (e.g, toys vs food)
• recognise some basic colours

In regards to Speaking 

• say four to five words in a sentence
• use a variety of words for names, actions, locations and descriptions
• ask questions using "what", "where" and "who"
• talk about something in the past but may use -ed a lot (e.g, "he goed there")
• have a conversation but may not take turns or stay on topic.

In regards to Understanding 

• answer most questions about daily tasks
• understand most wh-questions including those about a story they have recently heard
• understand some numbers
• show an awareness that some words start or finish with the same sounds.

In regards to Speaking 

• use words such as "and", "but" and "because", to make longer sentences
• describe recent events, such as morning routines
• ask lots of questions
• use personal pronouns (e.g, he/she, me/you) and negations (e.g, don't/can't)
• count to five and name a few colours

In regards to Understanding 

• follow three part instructions (e.g, put on your shoes, get your backpack and line up outside)
• understand time related words (e.g, "before", "after", "now" and "later")
• start thinking about the meaning of words when learning
• understand instructions without stopping to listen
• begin to recognise some letters, sounds and numbers

In regards to Speaking 

• use well formed sentences to be understood by most people
• take turns in increasingly longer conversations
• tell simple, short stories with a beginning, middle and end
• use past and future verbs correctly (e.g, "went", "will go")
• use most speech sounds but still may have difficulties with "s", "r", "l" and "th"