When should you seek help?
If your concerned about your child’s language development look at the warning signs listed below. If your child exhibits any of the following please seek help from a licensed speech-language professional.
By 12 months
Doesn’t babble with changes in tone – eg mamamamamama
Doesn’t use gestures like waving “hello/goodbye” or shaking his/her head “no”
Doesn’t respond to his/her name
Doesn’t communicate in some way when he/she needs something (eg. favorite stuffy)
By 15 months
Doesn’t understand and respond to words like “no” and “up”
Says no words
Doesn’t point to objects or pictures when asked “Show me the….?” Or “Where’s the…?”
Doesn’t point to things of interest as if to say, “Look at that!” (eg. Fire truck) and then look right at you
By 18 months
Doesn’t understand simple commands like “Don’t touch”
Isn’t using at least 20 single words like “Daddy”, “More” or “Up”
Doesn’t respond with a word or gesture to a question such as “What’s that?” or “Where’s the dog?”
Can’t point to two or three major body parts such as head, eyes, nose, tummy, feet
By 24 months
Says fewer than 100 words
Isn’t consistently joining two words together like “Mommy come” or “Shirt on”
Doesn’t imitate actions or words
Doesn’t pretend with toys, such as feeding doll, or making a toy car drive in different directions
By 30 months
Says fewer than 300 words
Isn’t using action words like “walk”, “eat”, “run”
Isn’t using some adult grammar such as “two doggies and “baby sleeping”
By 3-4 years
Doesn’t ask questions by 3 years (e.g. Where’s baby? Who is that? Where are we going?)
Isn’t using sentences (e.g. “I don’t want that” or “My doll is broken” by three years
Can’t tell a simple story by four or five years
