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8-12 Months
Infants become more accurate at establishing joint attention with the caregiver, who often verbally labels what the baby is looking at. Infants actively participate in turn-taking games, trading roles with the caregiver. Infants use preverbal gestures, such as showing and pointing, to influence others’ goals and behavior and to convey information. -
2 Months
infants coo, making pleasant vowel sounds -
4 Months On
Infants observe with interest as the caregiver plays turn-taking games, such as pat-a-cake and peekaboo. -
6 Months On
Infants babble, adding consonants to their cooing sounds and repeating syllables. By 7 months, babbling starts to include many sounds of spoken languages. Infants begin to comprehend a few commonly heard words. -
12 Months
Babbling includes sound and intonation patterns of the child’s language community. Speed and accuracy of word comprehension increase rapidly. Toddlers say their first recognizable word. -
1-2 Years
The child points to pictures in a book when you name them, and can point to a few body parts when asked (nose, eyes, tummy). He or she can also follow simple commands ("Push the bus!", "Don't touch; it's hot!") and understand simple questions ("Where's the bunny?", "Who likes Miffy?", "What's in your purse?"). The child likes listening to simple stories and enjoys it when you sing songs or say rhymes. This is a stage in which he or she will want the same story, rhyme or game repeated many times. -
18-24 Months
Spoken vocabulary expands from about 50 to 200 to 250 words. Toddlers combine two words. -
2-3 Years
Thetoddler will understand two stage commands ("Get your socks and put them in the basket") and understand contrasting concepts or meanings like hot / cold. He or she notices sounds like the telephone or doorbell ringing and may point or become excited, get you to answer, or attempt to answer themselves. -
3-4 Years
A three or four year old understands simple "Who?", "What?" and "Where?" questions, and can hear you when you call from another room. -
4-5 Years
Children in this age range enjoy stories and can answer simple questions about them. He or she hears and understands nearly everything that is said (within reason) at home or at pre-school or day care. -
6-10 Years
While most children have a large vocabulary-about 13,000 words-at age 6, they have limited ability to understand complicated language structures. From ages 6-10, children gradually begin to think in more complex ways. Children gradually advance from understanding simple sentences to being able to interpret complicated content within a paragraph. School-age children don't comprehend a lot of what adults discuss with them. Before age 9, most children understand language very literally. -
10-11 Years
Children at this age can prioritize, organize, plan, report, and summarize effectively. Their writing is more complex than their conversational language. They also tell jokes using more complex language and ideas. They are able to form their own opinion, present their point of view, and actively participate in discussions with others. -
11-12
Sometime between the ages of 11 and 12, most children will begin to reason, think abstractly, and apply logic.