Milestones and norms
Speech and Language Development
What to expect at every age, and when to ask for help.
- Age bands
- 7
- Range
- Birth to 7 years
- Handouts
- 9 PDFs
- Cost
- Free
Explore milestones by age
Choose an age to see communication milestones, things you might want to ask about, and a one-page handout. These are guideposts, not a test.
Birth to 1 Year
0-12 monthsBirth to 3 months
- Alerts to sound
- Quiets or smiles when you talk to them
- Turns or looks toward voices and people talking
- Recognizes loved ones and some familiar objects
- Makes sounds back and forth with you
- Makes different sounds depending on whether they are happy or upset
- Coos - sounds like ooooo, aahh and mmmmm
4 to 6 months
- Responds to facial expressions
- Looks at things that interest them and follows objects with their eyes
- Reacts to toys that make sounds, like bells or music
- Giggles and laughs
- Vocalizes during play or with objects in their mouth
- Vocalizes different vowel sounds, sometimes combined with a consonant
- Blows raspberries
7 to 9 months
- Looks at you when you call their name
- Stops for a moment when you say "no"
- Recognizes the names of some people and objects
- Looks for loved ones when upset
- Babbles long strings of sounds - mamamama, upup, babababa
- Raises arms to be picked up
- Pushes away things they do not want
10 to 12 months
- Responds to simple words and phrases like "go bye-bye" and "look at Mommy"
- Reaches for objects by about 10 months
- Points, waves, and shows or gives you objects
- Imitates and starts gestures during social play
- Tries to copy sounds that you make
- Enjoys dancing
- Says one or two words - mama, dada, hi, bye
Worth a conversation
- No babbling by 9 months
- No gestures such as pointing or waving by 12 months
- Does not respond to their name
- Does not look where you point
- Does not react to sound at all, at any age in this band
13 to 18 Months
13-18 months- Looks around when asked "where" questions, like "where is your blanket?"
- Follows directions - "give me the ball", "hug the teddy bear", "come here", "show me your nose"
- Points to make requests, to comment, or to get information
- Shakes their head for no and nods for yes
- Understands and uses words for common objects, some actions, and the people in their life
- Identifies one or more body parts
- Uses gestures when excited, like clapping or a high-five, or when being silly
- Combines long strings of sounds, syllables and real words with speech-like inflection
Worth a conversation
- No words at all by 18 months
- Does not point to request or to show you things
- Does not follow simple one-step directions
- Loses words or skills they previously had
19 to 24 Months
19-24 months- Uses and understands at least 50 different words - food, toys, animals, body parts
- Speech may not always be clear - "du" for shoe, or "dah" for dog, is expected here
- Puts two or more words together - "more water", "go outside"
- Follows two-step directions - "get the spoon and put it on the table"
- Uses words like me, mine and you
- Uses words to ask for help
- Uses possessives, like "Daddy’s sock"
Worth a conversation
- Fewer than 50 words by 24 months
- No two-word combinations by 24 months
- Does not imitate sounds, words or actions
- Loses words or skills they previously had
2 to 3 Years
2-3 years- Uses word combinations often, though may still repeat some words or phrases
- Tries to get your attention - "look at me!"
- Says their name when asked
- Uses some plural words, like birds or toys
- Uses -ing verbs like eating or running, and adds -ed to talk about past actions
- Gives reasons for things and events - needing a coat because it is cold
- Asks "why" and "how"
- Answers questions like "what do you do when you are sleepy?"
- Correctly produces p, b, m, h, w, d and n in words
- Correctly produces most vowels in words
How clear should speech be?
ASHA’s wording for this band: speech is becoming clearer but may not be understandable to unfamiliar listeners.
Worth a conversation
- Not combining words into short phrases
- Family cannot understand most of what the child says
- Does not follow two-step directions
- Does not ask questions
3 to 4 Years
3-4 years- Compares things using comparative words
- Tells stories from books or videos
- Understands and uses location words like inside, on and under
- Uses articles - a, the - in speech
- Pretends to read, alone or with others
- Recognizes signs and logos like STOP
- Pretends to write or spell, and writes some letters
- Says all the syllables in a word
- Says the sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words
- Correctly produces t, k, g, f, y and -ing in words
- By 4, says all the sounds in a two-consonant cluster - the "tw" in "tweet" or the "nd" in "sand"
- By 4, talks smoothly and does not repeat sounds, words or phrases most of the time
How clear should speech be?
ASHA’s wording: by age 4, the child speaks so that people can understand most of what they say. Errors on the later sounds - l, j, r, sh, ch, s, v, z and th (Crowe & McLeod, 2020) - are still expected.
Worth a conversation
- Unfamiliar adults cannot understand the child
- Not using sentences of three or more words
- Cannot answer simple "who" or "what" questions
- Repeats sounds or words with visible effort, tension or frustration
4 to 5 Years
4-5 years- Produces grammatically correct sentences, which are longer and more complex
- Tells stories with main characters and a setting, joined with words like "and"
- Uses at least one irregular plural form, like feet or men
- Understands and uses location words like behind, beside and between
- Uses time words like yesterday and tomorrow correctly
- Follows simple directions and rules to play games
- Locates the front of a book and its title
- Recognizes and names 10 or more letters, and can usually write their own name
- Imitates reading and writing from left to right
- Blends word parts - cup + cake = cupcake - and identifies some rhyming words like cat and hat
- Produces most consonants correctly
How clear should speech be?
ASHA’s wording: speech is understandable in conversation.
Worth a conversation
- Still difficult for unfamiliar adults to understand
- Grammar errors a younger child would make
- Cannot tell a simple story with a beginning and an end
- Struggles to follow classroom directions
5 to 7 Years
5-7 yearsASHA’s milestones stop at 5 years. This band draws on the consonant acquisition literature and general school-age expectations instead.
- Produces every consonant correctly, including r, vocalic r and th
- Uses complex sentences with conjunctions - because, so, but, if
- Tells organized stories with a clear beginning, middle and end
- Explains how and why things happen
- Follows multi-step classroom directions
- Repairs communication breakdowns - "no, I meant..."
- Adjusts how they talk for different listeners and settings
- Reads and writes simple text
Worth a conversation
- Any sound errors remaining after age 7
- Difficulty telling or following stories
- Trouble finding words in conversation
- Struggles with rhyming, letter sounds or early reading
Speech sounds by age
A colorful guide to growing sounds
Every sound has its time to grow.
Children learn speech sounds over time. These age groups show when most children in U.S. studies of English speech could say each sound. The examples help you hear the sound, not just see its letter.
Age 2
- Pas in “pie”
- Bas in “ball”
- Das in “dog”
- Mas in “mom”
- Nas in “no”
- Has in “hat”
- Was in “we”
Age 3
- Tas in “toy”
- Kas in “key”
- Gas in “go”
- NGas in “sing” (at the end)
- Fas in “fish”
- Yas in “yes”
Age 4
- Vas in “van”
- Sas in “sun”
- Zas in “zoo”
- SHas in “shoe”
- CHas in “chair”
- Jas in “jump”
- Las in “leaf”
Age 5
- Buzzy THas in “this”
- The middle sound in “measure”
- Ras in “red”
Age 6
- Airy THas in “thumb”
How to use this chart
In the studies behind this chart, about 9 out of 10 children could say each sound by the end of the age shown. “Age 3” includes the whole year before a child turns 4. These ages are guideposts for a conversation, not deadlines or a test.
This chart is about English speech sounds. Children who use other languages or dialects may follow different patterns. If you have a question about your child’s speech, an SLP can look at the whole picture.
Source: Crowe and McLeod (2020) reviewed 15 studies involving 18,907 children.
The age bands on this page follow ASHA’s Developmental Milestones, so you can check anything here against the source. Every range is wide on purpose. Milestones describe what most children do by a given age, not a schedule anyone is required to keep, and a child may not reach a milestone until the end of their age range. One missed milestone in an otherwise chatty, connected, curious child is usually nothing. Several missed milestones in the same band, or a skill that was there and then disappeared, is worth a conversation.
These are not a test
When Words Sound Different
Young children sometimes leave out a sound or use an easier sound while their speech is developing. For example, “cat” might sound like “tat” or “ca.” Hearing a pattern across several words tells you more than one word on its own.
If you notice a pattern or have questions about how clearly your child is understood, an SLP can help you make sense of it. You do not need to name the pattern yourself.
See the detailed speech-pattern chart for SLPs
The age by which each simplification pattern is generally expected to be gone.
| Age | Pattern | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| By 3;0 | Reduplication, prevocalic voicing, final devoicing, stopping of f and s | |
| By 3;3 | Final consonant deletion | |
| By 3;6 | Velar fronting, stopping of v and z | |
| By 4;0 | Weak syllable deletion, cluster reduction without /s/, palatal fronting | |
| By 4;6 | Stopping of sh, ch and j | |
| By 5;0 | Cluster reduction with /s/, gliding of /l/, stopping of th | |
| By 6;0 | Gliding of /r/, vowelization of /l/ | |
| By 7;0 | Vowelization of /r/ | |
| Never typical | Backing, initial consonant deletion, glottal replacement | Refer at any age. (A glottal stop for /t/ before a syllabic N - "button" - is normal American English, not glottal replacement.) |
- Source
- Commonly cited clinical figures, drawn from the phonological development literature rather than a single authority. ASHA does not publish an equivalent table.
- How to read it
- Treat these as a guide for when a pattern is worth a closer look, not as a cutoff. Individual variation is wide, and the pattern matters more than the date.
A process that persists past its usual age is a common reason for referral, even when individual sounds are produced correctly in isolation.
How Easy Is Speech to Understand?
Speech often gets easier for people outside the family to understand as children grow. Someone who knows your child well may understand more than a new listener.
2 to 3 years
Speech is getting clearer, although people who do not know your child may not understand everything yet.
By 4 years
Most of what your child says can be understood by other people.
4 to 5 years
Your child’s speech is usually understandable in conversation.
These are broad guideposts from ASHA’s communication milestones. If understanding your child’s speech is difficult or you are concerned, an SLP can help you look at the whole picture.
See the detailed research reference chart
A quick, practical screen you can run at the grocery store.
| Age | What a stranger understands | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | About 25% | Roughly one word in four. |
| 2 years | About 50-75% | Family understands much more than strangers do. |
| 3 years | About 75% | Most of a conversation is followable. |
| 4 years | Most speech understood | Occasional words may still be unclear. |
| 5 years | Understandable in conversation | Including with unfamiliar listeners and on unfamiliar topics. |
- Source
- The percentage figures come from the intelligibility research literature (Coplan & Gleason, 1988; Flipsen, 2006), not from ASHA. ASHA describes the same progression in words rather than numbers.
- How to read it
- ASHA’s own wording: at 2 to 3 years speech is becoming clearer but may not be understandable to unfamiliar listeners; by 4 years people can understand most of what a child says; by 4 to 5 years speech is understandable in conversation.
Intelligibility is often a better early indicator than any single sound. If an unfamiliar adult cannot follow the child at roughly these levels, that is worth an evaluation regardless of which sounds are involved.
Where this page comes from
Every age on this page is traceable to one of these. If you find something here that does not match the source, it is a mistake — please tell us.
- ASHA — Developmental Milestones: Birth to 5 Years
The age bands and milestone content on this page. Revised 2023.
- Crowe & McLeod (2020), Children’s English Consonant Acquisition in the United States: A Review
The speech sound chart. A review of 15 studies covering 18,907 children.
- ASHA Practice Portal — Speech Sound Disorders: Articulation and Phonology
Error pattern terminology and the treatment framework used across the site.