Important Speech Therapy Milestones For Your Child’s Development

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Important Speech Therapy Milestones For Your Child’s Development | Triumph Therapeutics | Physical Therapy in Washington DC

Is your child struggling to properly pronounce and articulate their words?

Have you noticed that they aren’t speaking as much as other children in their age range?

While every child will develop their speech skills at their own pace, significant delays in speech production may indicate an underlying problem, such as a developmental delay.

Fortunately, there is help.

We’re Triumph Therapeutics, a Washington DC speech therapy clinic with a passion for helping children improve their speech and language skills.

In this article, you’ll learn about speech therapy milestones and how developmental delays speech therapy can help keep your child’s speech production on track.

It may seem frightening, at first, if your child seems like they’re not developing at the expected rate.

But the good news is that through early intervention speech therapy, your child can overcome many of their speech issues.

Keep reading to learn more.

What Are Speech Development Milestones?

During the first several years of your child’s life, their brains are rapidly developing and learning new skills.

We often refer to these skills as “milestones”.

There are many different types of developmental milestones, such as cognitive development milestones, physical development milestones, social and communication development milestones, and speech development milestones.

Last time, we talked about pediatric physical therapy developmental milestones – what they are, and how to recognize whether it’s a good idea to seek out physical therapy for kids near me if they’re falling short.

Next time, we’ll look at pediatric occupational therapy milestones – but for now, let’s focus on speech.

Speech development milestones provide a general guideline for expected speech development in children.

They highlight important functional skills that most children of a specific age can do.

For example, most children begin saying simple words, such as “mama” and “dada”, by their first birthday.

Speech development milestones help us track our children’s development progress, as well as to identify potential issues early.

Is Your Child Meeting Their Speech Development Milestones?

The following is a list of speech development milestones that you can look out for in your child.

It’s important to note that if your child is a couple weeks behind these milestones but still seems to be making progress toward that milestone, that’s not generally cause for concern.

Every child develops at a different rate, and it’s important to keep that in mind.

However, if the milestone has passed and they show no sign of progress, it may be time to contact us to book a pediatric evaluation of your child’s speech and language development.

Age Three Months

By three months of age, your baby should be able to:

  • Smile at you
  • Make cooing sounds
  • Recognize your voice
  • Cry differently for different needs
  • Laugh and giggle
  • Make noises when talked to

Age Six Months

By six months of age, your baby should be able to:

  • Make gurgling sounds, babble, and create a variety of sounds
  • Move their eyes in the direction of sound
  • Use their voice to express pleasure or displeasure
  • Response to changes in the tone of your voice
  • Understand “no no”
  • Attempt to communicate in gestures
  • Notice that some toys make sound
  • Pay attention to music

Age One Year

By age one, your toddler should be able to:

  • Say “mama” or “dada”
  • Attempt to repeat sounds that they hear
  • Answer simple questions nonverbally
  • Understand simple instructions
  • Recognize words for common items, such as “fork”
  • Turn and look in the direction of sounds

Age Eighteen Months

By eighteen months of age, your toddler should be able to:

  • Recognize the names of familiar people, objects, and body parts
  • Ask for common foods by name
  • Make animal sounds, such as “meow” and “woof”
  • Begin to use pronouns, such as “mine”
  • Follow simple directions accompanied with gestures
  • Say up to 10 words, pronunciation may be unclear

Age Two Years

By age two, your toddler should be able to:

  • Use simple phrases, such as “more food”
  • Ask one or two word questions, such as “go bye bye?”
  • Follow simple commands and answer simple questions
  • Say 50 or more words
  • Speak well enough to be understood at least half of the time by you or other primary caregivers

What Are Speech Development Milestones | Triumph Therapeutics | Physical Therapy in Washington DC

What If My Child Isn’t Meeting These Milestones?

As previously mentioned, every child is different and will develop their speech production skills at their own pace.

For this reason, slight delays in achieving speech development milestones don’t necessarily indicate a problem.

Speak to a pediatrician if your child is experiencing a significant delay in their speech development milestones.

There are many reasons why your child may be experiencing milestone delays, such as hearing loss and developmental disorders.

In particular, it could be a result of an underlying speech disorder, including:

Of course, it may be the case as well that there’s no obvious underlying condition.

This is known as an idiopathic developmental delay.

Whatever it is that’s causing your child’s speech developmental delay, a speech therapist can help.

Book Your Appointment With Triumph Therapeutics Today

At Triumph Therapeutics, our expert speech therapists have a special interest in helping children thrive.

If your child is experiencing significant delays in their speech development milestones, we can help.

We will work with you to find the treatment approach that is best for you and your child.

Book your appointment with Triumph Therapeutics today to get started.

If you’re ready to take the next step, reach out today for a free phone consultation.

Triumph Therapeutics

4900 Massachusetts Ave NW suite 340,
Washington, DC 20016

(202) 621-9793
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Triumph Therapeutics is a team of highly experienced pediatric therapists specializing in physical therapy, speech language therapy, and occupation therapy for children, adolescents and their families as they work to reach their growth and wellness goals