Communication Milestones

• Startle in response to loud noises?
• Turn to where a sound is coming from?
• Make different cries for different needs (hungry or tired)?
• Watch your face as you talk?
• Smile or laugh in response to your smiles and laughs?
• Imitate coughs or other sounds such as ah, eh, buh?

• Respond to their name?
• Respond to the telephone ringing or a knock at the door?
• Understand being told no?
• Get what they want through using gestures such as reaching to be picked up?
• Play social games with you such as Peek-a-Boo?
• Enjoy being around people?
• Babble and repeat sounds such as babababa or duhduhduh?

• Follow simple one-step directions (sit down)?
• Look across the room to a toy when an adult points at it?
• Consistently use three to five words?
• Use gestures to communicate (waves hi and bye, shakes head for no)?
• Get your attention using sounds, gestures and pointing while looking at your eyes?
• Bring you toys to show you?
• Perform for social attention and praise?

• Understand the meaning of in and out, off and on?
• Point to more than two body parts when asked?
• Use at least 20 words consistently?
• Respond with words or gestures to simple questions (where’s teddy? what’s that?)?
• Demonstrate some pretend play with toys (gives teddy bear a drink, pretends a bowl is a hat)?
• Make at least four different consonant sounds (p ,b, m, n, d, g, w, h)?
• Enjoy being read to and sharing simple books with you?
• Point to pictures using one finger?

• Follow two-step directions (go find your teddy bear and show it to Grandma)?
• Use 100 to 150 words?
• Use at least two pronouns (you, me, mine)?
• Consistently combine two to four words in short phrases (daddy hat, truck go down)?
• Enjoy being around other children?
• Begin to offer toys to other children and imitate other children’s actions and words?
• Use words that are understood by others 50 to 60 per cent of the time?
• Form words or sounds easily and without effort?
• Hold books the right way up and turn the pages?
• Read to stuffed animals or toys?
• Scribble with crayons?

• Understand the concepts of size (big and little) and quantity (a little, a lot, more)?
• Use some adult grammar (two cookies, bird flying, I jumped)?
• Use over 350 words?
• Use action words such as run, spill, fall?
• Participate in some turn-taking activities with peers, using both words and toys?
• Demonstrate concern when another child is hurt or sad?
• Combine several actions in play (puts blocks in the train and drives the train, drops the blocks off)?
• Put sounds at the beginning of most words?
• Use words with two or more syllables or beats (ba-na-na, com-pu-ter, a-pple)?
• Recognize familiar logos and signs involving print (stop sign)?
• Remember and understand familiar stories?

• Understand who, what, where and why questions?
• Create long sentences using five to eight words?
• Talk about past events (trip to grandparents house, day at child care)?
• Tell simple stories?
• Show affection for favourite playmates?
• Engage in multi-step pretend play (pretending to cook a meal, repair a car)?
• Talk in a way that most people outside of the family understand what they are saying most of the time?
• Have an understanding of the function of print (menus, lists, signs)?
• Show interest in, and awareness of, rhyming words?

• Follow directions involving three or more steps (first get some paper, then draw a picture and give it to Mommy)?
• Use adult type grammar?
• Tell stories with a beginning, middle and end?
• Talk to try and solve problems with adults and with other children?
• Show increasingly complex imaginary play?
• Talk in a way that is understood by strangers almost all the time?
• Generate simple rhymes (cat-bat)?
• Match some letters with their sounds (letter b says buh, letter t says tuh)?

Refer to Early Expressions if you answer yes to one or more of the items in this section:

• Does your child frequently ask you to repeat what you said?
• Does your child rely on peers or other visual cues to follow directions or routines?
• Does your child give off-topic or inappropriate responses that would indicate lack of understanding?
• Does your child have difficulty following simple two or three part directions?
• Do you have concerns about your child’s hearing?

Refer to Early Expressions if you answer “Yes” to the first question or answer Yes to 2 of the 4 other questions in this section.

• Does your child have difficulty using correct grammar and putting words in the correct order (e.g., “me can go bathroom?”)?
• Does your child have difficulty producing sentences with more than 4 to 6 words?
• Does your child have difficulty putting ideas together in the right order when talking (e.g., sharing events in his day or telling a story)?
• Does your child have difficulty finding the right words to express him or herself?
• Does your child have difficulty carrying on a conversation with others (e.g., initiate, take turns, maintain or elaborate on a topic)?

Refer to Early Expressions if you answer “Yes” to one of the questions in this section.

• Is it difficult for others to understand what your child is saying most of the time?
• Does your child have difficulty correctly saying most of these words: two, hat, mud, fun, off, key, soap, spoon, cookie, go, hug?

Refer to Early Expressions if you answer “Yes” to 2 or more questions in this section.

• Does your child struggle when talking (e.g., prolonged sounds, facial tension, eye blinks, holding breath)?
• Is your child aware of or upset by the stuttering?
• Have you ever been concerned about stuttering?

Refer to Early Expressions if you answer “Yes” to both questions in this section.

• Does your child have an unusual voice quality (e.g., weak, hoarse, raspy, whispered, strained)?
• Has your child exhibited a hoarse voice without a cold for more than a month?

Refer to Early Expressions if you have concerns in this area.

• Does your child know that books are read from left to right, top to bottom, and does your child recognize some symbols (such as a traffic sign or restaurant sign)?
• Does your child make up rhyming words (like ‘Silly Billy’) or alliteration phrases (“dirty dogs dig in the dump for donuts”)?
• Does your child know some letters and their corresponding sounds? (such as the first letter in their name?)
• Does your child draw letters or pretend scribbles are words?
• Does your child guess what will happen next in the story by looking at the pictures?
• Does your child pretend to read?