Every child is unique and has an individual rate of development. The following represents, on average, the age by which most children will accomplish the listed skills.
Birth to 3 months
Hearing and Understanding:
· Startles to loud sounds.
· Quiets or smiles when spoken to.
· Seems to recognize your voice and quiets if crying.
· Increases or decreases sucking behavior in response to sound.
Talking:
· Makes pleasure sounds (cooing, gooing).
· Cries differently for different needs.
· Smiles when sees you.
4 to 6 months
Hearing and Understanding:
· Moves eyes in direction of sounds.
· Responds to changes in tone of your voice.
· Notices toys that make sounds.
· Pays attention to music.
Talking:
· Babbling sounds more speech-like, with many different sounds, including p, b, and m.
· Vocalizes excitement and displeasure.
· Makers gurgling sounds when left alone and when playing with you.
7 months to 1 year
Hearing and Understanding:
· Enjoys games like peekaboo and patty-cake.
· Turns and looks in direction of sounds.
· Listens when spoken to.
· Recognizes words for common items, like “cup,” “shoe,” and “juice.”
· Begins to respond to requests (“Come here,” and “Want More?”)
Talking:
· Babbling has both long and short groups of sounds, such as “tata upup bibibibi.”
· Uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep
attention.
attention.
· Imitates different speech sounds.
· Has 1 or 2 words (bye-bye, dada, mama) although they may not be clear.
Children typically don’t master all items in a category until they reach the upper age in each range.
Information provided by the American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association.
Association.
