Communication Milestones: What Should My Child Do and Say At a Certain Age?

Communication Milestones for Children Aged 0-5 years

It’s been a long time since our last update! It’s almost the end of 2022 and Talk2connect Speech Pathology had been busy with supporting children and their families on the Gold Coast and Brisbane regions to achieve their goals. Lately there has been an increasing number of families who contacted us and expressed concerns about their young one’s speech and language abilities. Some families are unsure about how many words their children are supposed to say at a certain age, as well as the number and types of speech sounds that they should be able to produce. In this blogpost, we will briefly introduce the communication milestones and red flags in each age group from 0 to 5.

At 12 Months

• respond to their name
• understand about 10 words
• copy different sounds and noises
• continue to babble
• may start producing first word

At 18 Months

• understand up to 50 words
• follow simple instructions (e.g., throw the ball)
• say around 15 single words
• name a few body parts
• copy lots of words and phrases

At 2 Years

• respond to simple what- and where- questions
• follow simple 2-part instructions (e.g., give me the spoon and the fork)
• say more than 50 words and start combining 2 words together
• produce speech sounds such as m, n, p, b, k, g, h, t, w, d

At 3 Years

• follow more complex instructions (e.g., give me the teddy and throw the ball)
• recognise basic colours
• understand concepts of ‘same’ and ‘different’
• say 3 to 4 words in a sentence
• ask what-, where-, and who- questions
• start talking about past events but may use -ed a lot (e.g., goed, eated)

At 4 Years

• responds correctly to most questions about daily activities
• understand most wh-questions, including those in stories
• names primary colours and count to 5
• use a wide range of sentences and questions correctly
• use words such as ‘but’, ‘because’, ‘and’ to make longer sentences

At 5 Years

• follow 3-part instructions (e.g., put on your shoes, get your bag, and line up outside)
• understand time concepts such as ‘before’ and ‘after’
• begin to recognise numbers, letters and their sounds
• take turns in increasingly longer conversations
• tell simple, short stories that have a beginning, middle, and end
• use most speech sounds but may still have trouble with r, l, and th

For More Information, Check Out this Free Resources for Families Produced By Speech Pathology Australia

What else would you like to know?

Please comment below or email us on info@talk2connect.com.au.