Every child is just beginning to communicate with parents beyond crying. Up to now, experts have a clear idea and understanding about the range of normal development from birth to age of 5 years.
Hearing: At 1 month, the child turns his/ her head towards the sound of a bell or a rattle.
Sounds: By the age of 6 months, the child produces monosyllable sounds like da, ma, but without attaching any meaning to it. Bisyllable words like ‘baba’, ‘mama’ or ‘kaka’ are spoken by 9 months of age.
Understanding: By the age of 10 months, the child can understand spoken speech and respond / reply back in a proper manner to verbal request made without an accompanying gesture, e. g. ‘Where is daddy?’ and so on.
Proper / True Speech: Usually by the age of 1 year, a child can use 2 words with meaning for objects of daily use. The child’s vocabulary increases during the 2nd year of life. He uses 6 to 20 words by the age of 18 months. Between age of 21-24 months, he can make simple sentences using two or three nouns without the use of verbs. He uses pronouns by 2 years of age and has a fairly decent vocabulary of about 250 words when he/she reaches 3 years old. The child can give a coherent account of recent experiences and events by the age of 4 years. Consonant words like g, f, l and r, are learnt later in comparison to other sounds.
The following are key developmental milestones in children in Language:
Key Developmental Milestones in Language Age
| Age | Milestones |
| 1 month | Turns head to sound |
| 3 months | Cooing |
| 6 months | Monosyllables (‘ma’, ‘ba’) |
| 9 months | Bisyllables (‘mama’, ‘baba’) |
| 12 months | Two words with meaning | 18 months | 8-10 words with meaning |
| 24 months | Utters Simple sentence | 36 months | Telling a story, Asks Questions, knows full name and gender |
| 4 years | Says song or poem, tells stories | 5 years | Asks meaning of words |