Since the 1970s, The Developmental Center for Infants and Children has served as the local community’s center of expertise regarding parents’ questions about the growth and development of their infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The DevelopmentCenteris staffed by a team of pediatricians, psychologists and rehabilitation therapists who perform developmental evaluations of children. The evaluations give concerned parents a unique opportunity to have a highly skilled team of individuals, in one room at one time, assess their child, answer questions and provide ideas about how to positively impact the child’s development.
The evaluation team also collaborates with community agencies, providing objective data and suggestions regarding the development of children in their programs. In addition to the evaluation team, The Developmental Center houses two teams of family support staff that offer families long-term support by helping them cope with and negotiate through the system of community-based services.
The Developmental Center for Infants & Children
601 W. Michigan Street Orlando, FL32805
407.317.7430
Development of Language & Play Skills
The following development stages are just guidelines. If you think your child is not reaching the milestones at the ages indicated, please talk with his or her pediatrician.
0 - 3 Months Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Startles in response to loud noise
- Smiles in response to familiar voice
- Looks directly at the speaker's face
- Quiets to a familiar voice
- Begins to turn head and eyes toward sound
- Anticipates sound associated with feeding
- Maintains brief eye contact during feeding
Expressive Language
- Makes soft, throaty sounds
- Express pleasure by cooing, squealing, gurgling
- Produces consonant sounds "g" "k" "h"
- Produces vowel sounds "eh" "ah" "uh"
- Enjoys taking turns in vocalizing with parents
- Smiles in response to his/her mirror image
- Cries differently to express hunger, irritation, pain
3 - 6 Months Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Shows fear of angry voices
- Smiles & laughes at “pleasant” speech.
- Turns head toward sound & human voice
- Responds to his/her name
- Stops crying when talked to
Expressive Language
- Laughs during play
- Makes tongue clicking sounds
- Begins to imitate sounds
- Babbles by repeating series of same sounds
- Smiles & waves arms to continue to social exchange
- Blows “raspberries” through closed lips or tongue movements
- Vocalizes with four or more different consonant-vowel syllables (“na” “goo”)
- Makes protest sounds when desired objects are moved
6 - 9 Months Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Pauses momentarily in response to “no-no”
- Responds with gestures to words as “up”
- Looks at common objects when named
- Looks at picture while talking about them
- Looks at some common objects when named
- Responds to his/her name more consistently by stopping activity
- Looks for family members when asked, "Where's Mommy? Daddy?"
Expressive Language
- Imitates familiar gestures (shaking a toy)
- Often imitates sounds and number counting
- Vocalizes to call attention to himself/herself
- Plays speech gesture games pat-a-cake, peek-a-boo
- Uses some gestural language such as shaking head “no”
- Babbles, using “singing-like” tones, especially to music
9 - 12 Months Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Understands some simple requests such as "give me"
- Understands simple, over-learned words (hot, so big)
- Responds to simple questions with searching movements ("Where's your shoe?")
- Becomes interested in sounds outside the immediate situation
- Responds to music with body movements in rhythmic time to the music
Expressive Language
- Plays exchange games with adults (handing objects back and forth)
- Initiates games of pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo
- Uses jargon with changes in tone and pitch of voice
- Uses first true word with meaning
- Attempts to imitate new words
- Imitates cough, tongue clicks
- Uses exclamations like "huh"
12 - 18 Months Language & Play Skills Receptive Language
- Understands simple one-step commands
- Recognizes body parts when named
- Understands names of common objects by bringing them from another place upon request
- Identifies two or more familiar objects from a group of three to four objects by touching/pointing
- Enjoys listening to rhymes and jingles
- Begins to look more selectively at pictures to recognize them when named
Expressive Language
- Attempts to get objects by pointing and vocalizing
- Uses from three to 20 single words meaningfully
- Imitates many new words
- Uses words of more than one syllable
- Answers questions such as "What's this?"
- Asks for "more"
- Uses two-word combinations as single words such as "gimme"
- Communicates primarily through true words and gestures
18 - 24 Months Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Recognizes body parts and clothing articles in large pictures
- Understands simple yes/no questions
- Understands differences in personal pronouns (me, you)
- Follows a series of two - three simple relations commands with the same object
- Appears to listen to meaning of language, not merely words
- Recognizes many common objects and pictures as they are named
Expressive Language
- Replaces jargon with meaningful words
- Imitates animal sounds and other environmental sounds in play
- Refers to self by name
- Uses "no" frequently
- Uses "my" to declare ownership
- Begins combining words to form two-word phrases
- Asks questions by raising pitch of voice at end of word or phrase
2 - 3 Years Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Understands actions in pictures
- Recognizes names of smaller body parts (chin, knee, elbow)
- Understands functions of objects
- Understands size concepts big and little
- Understands quantity concepts one, more, all
- Understands spatial concepts in, on, under
- Becomes aware of a sequence and organization for daily routines
- Understands question forms who, where, what doing
- Understands genders (boy/girl)
- Likes to listen to short stories
Expressive Language
- Combines words to express: - Possession: "my coat"
- Recurrence: "more juice"
- Action: "go outside"
- Location: "want up"
- Negation: "no eat" - Usually uses two- to four-word phrases
- Asks for help with personal needs
- Uses I, me, mine, you
- Can say first and last name when asked
- Can repeat two numbers in squence
- Talks about an event that has just happened
- Uses many commands ("go get it")
- Uses here, there
- Begins using "is" verb form
- Speech is understood by others 70 - 80 percent of the time
3 - 4 Years Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Understands concepts hard/soft, rough/smooth
- Understands spatial concepts front/back
- Understands question forms, "What do you do when you're hungry? Sleepy?"
- Follows two-step directions involving two different actions
Expressive Language
- Asks many who, what, where, why questions
- Uses four- to five-word sentences most of the time
- Engages in detailed conversations
- Uses language in imaginative play
- Imitates whispering
- Relates two events in correct sequential order
- Completes simple verbal opposites
- Uses verb forms is, am, are
- Uses regular plural forms consistently ("blocks")
- Uses possessives ("mommy's car")
- Begins using "because" as an explanation
4 - 5 Years Language & Play Skills
Receptive Language
- Follows series of three unrelated commands
- Identifies two - three primary colors
- Understands concepts heavy/light, loud/quiet, day/night
- Understands directional concepts above/below, top/bottom
- Understands variety of question forms (where, when, how)
Expressive Language
- Combines four to eight words in sentences
- Describes objects according to size, shape, color
- Enjoys re-telling stories
- Enjoys asking meaning of new words
- Uses could and would verb forms
- Uses if and so in forming complex sentences
- Uses no and not" appropriately
- Uses contracted negatives (can't, don't)
- Regularly uses pronouns he, she, they and possessive pronouns his, her, our, their
5 Years Language & Play Skills
- Defines objects by their use and can tell what objects are made of
- Knows spatial relations like on top, far, behind, and near
- Has a sentence length of five to eight words
- Has a vocabulary of about 2,000 words
- Knows common opposites like big/little and hard/soft
- Understands same and different
- Identifies all primary colors
- Counts ten objects
- Knows his/her address
- Identifies a penny, nickel and dime
- Carries a plot in a story
- Uses future, present, and past tense
- Stays with one activity for 12 -13 minutes
- Asks for information
- Distinguishes left and right hand in him/herself, but not in others