Babies and Preschool Children
What To Look Out For in young children
Babies communicate from birth and begin to develop the skills that are needed for listening, understanding and talking. Children develop at different rates but there are key milestones to look out for.
What range of skills should you be expecting at this stage of your baby/child’s development? You can check this below.
What to expect:
By 6 months old babies usually:
- Watch your face while you are talking
- Smile and laugh with you
- Make cooing and gurgling noises to themselves
By 1 year old babies usually:
- Try to get your attention and may point or shout for something
- Make talking noises to join in the ‘conversation’
- Start to understand words like ‘bye bye’, and things you say a lot
- Look at you when you speak and he/she hears their name called
By 18 months old babies usually:
- Say words that he/she hears a lot in their own way but consistently
- Understand some simple words and phrases e.g. ‘where’s teddy?’
- Point to familiar objects when you ask
- Enjoy games like peek-a-boo and toys that make a noise
- Start to enjoy simple pretend play like pretending to talk on the phone
By 2 years old toddlers usually:
- Use more single words
- Start to put words together into short sentences
- Ask simple questions like ‘what’s that?’
- Understand simple questions
- Understand many more words and points at pictures in a book when you ask
- Enjoy simple pretend play such as cars, cooking
By 3 years old children usually:
- Speak in sentences
- Stop relying on pointing or single words to get what they want
- Remember longer instructions
- Understand ‘who’ ‘what’ and ‘where’ questions
- Join in simple games and talk to others
Depending on your child’s age, watch out for:
- Poor eye contact
- Sometimes doesn’t seem to hear or pay attention when you talk
- Not pointing at simple familiar objects
- Understands and says fewer words than other children the same age
- You can’t understand anything or very little that your child says
