
3-6 MONTHS
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Smiles spontaneously to human contact
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Smiles when playing alone
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Smiles at faces of several family members
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Stops crying when spoken to
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Shows different responses to different family members
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Coos to caregivers

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Responds to "Come here baby!"
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Becomes more outgoing with familiar people
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Shows anxiety when separated from favorite caregiver
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Likes to be with specific people
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Uses speech sounds to get attention
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Listens when spoke to
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Says 1-3 words
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Uses nouns almost exclusively
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Understands simple commands
7-12 MONTHS

12-18 MONTHS
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Follows simple directions, especially with gestures
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Practices intonation, sometimes imitating an adult
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Is aware of the value of communication
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Uses much, meaningful jargon with inflection and emotion
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Has an expressive vocabulary of 5-20 words
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Produces 2-word phrases
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Most speech is unintelligible
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Combines gestures and vocalizations
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Requests more of desired items

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Names common objects
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Uses 2-3 or more preposition like "in" or "under"
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Uses noun + verb consistently
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Listener understands 2/3 of what child says
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Understands 300 words or more
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Uses 100-200 words reliably
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Rhythm and fluency of speech is poor
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Confuses "I" and "me"
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Poor control of pitch and volume
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Follows commands such as "show me your nose"
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Adding more words
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Knows 5 body parts
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Enjoys listening to stories
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Answers "what's that" questions
18-24 MONTHS

25-36 MONTHS
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Uses 3-4 word sentences
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Speech is 50-70% intelligible to strangers
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Understands of 500-900 words
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Says 50-250 or more words
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Begins to use plurals and past tense
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asks 1-2 word questions
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requests items by name
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uses vowels correctly
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responds to some yes and no questions
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Knows main body parts
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Verbs begin to emerge
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Able to explain experiences

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Understands more than is able to express
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Identifies animals
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Begins to identify colors
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Enjoys pretend play schemes
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Imitates many words, phrases, sounds
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Understands contrasts
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Uses at least four prepositions
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Speech is 80% intelligible to strangers
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Understands 1200-2000 words
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Says 800-1500 or more words
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Uses 4-5 words in sentences
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Uses pronouns (him, her, she, they)
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Tells two events in chronological order
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Engages in meaning and long conversation
3-4 YEARS

4-5 YEARS
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Can repeat sentences as long as 9 words
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All speech should be intelligible, but some articulation errors may be present
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Able to count to 10
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Knows opposites
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Can follow 3-step commands without help
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Understands simple time concepts
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Uses adjectives and adverbs in conversations
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Talks extensively during play
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Can repeat 4 syllable words
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Able to define common words