Language Development Milestones

Edited by Nicole Sax and Erin Weston

(in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of
Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology
at the University of Alberta, January, 2007)

The following charts provide a summary of typical language developmental milestones within the four major domains of
language (i.e. pragmatics, semantics, syntax, and phonology). Each chart focuses on different age ranges, which include
0 to 8 months, 8 to 12 months, 12 to 18 months, 18 to 24 months, 24 to 36 months, 36 to 48 months, and 48 to 60
months.

Within the chart, key findings from the international adoption literature pertaining to specific skills are highlighted in a
shaded box. At the bottom of the chart, more general information for that specific age range is provided. Each finding
from the adoption literature is followed by a number, which corresponds to its number in the reference list.

In addition, the following general findings from the international adoption research did not correspond to any specific age
range:
The majority of internationally-adopted children are within or above the normal range after two or more years of
exposure to English. (3)
In general, the older the child is at the time of adoption, the greater the delays that can be expected. However,
they appear to start catching up by about one year post-adoption. (8)
Although expressive language and mean length of utterance is delayed, children showed the same developmental
growth patterns as their non-adopted peers. (10)
Overall, grammatical morphemes were acquired in the same developmental order as non-adopted peers, but a
short-term delay was exhibited. (11)
0 to 8 months:
Pragmatics and Semantics Syntax Phonology

- Perlocutionary stage – preintentional stage Smiles when he/she sees another’s - 0 to 2 months:
when parents attribute intent to the child’s face Makes vegetative sounds –
actions Recognizes a spoon or bottle unintentional; attempts to use his/her
- 0 to 3 months: Laughs voice, but productions are not speech-
Follows a moving person with his/her Cries when parents leave the room like. E.g. gurgles, burps, coughs
eyes Imitates familiar sounds and actions Begins blowing bubbles
Smiles when he/she hears a voice or - 6 to 8 months: - 2 to 4 months:
sees another smile Initiates vocalizing to another person Cooing – moves tongue throughout
Gets excited when caregiver Has different vocalizations for different mouth to produce vowel-like sounds
approaches emotional states (e.g. anger, - 3 to 6 months:
Cries differently when tired, hungry or contentment, hunger) Quasi-resonant nuclei – mouth is
in pain Attempts to imitate gross gestures (i.e. closed or partially open; sounds are
Startles in response to a loud sound motor movements involving the arms not quite vowel-like; sound similar to a
While lying on his/her back, will visually and legs) nasal consonant
follow a moving object Looks at some common objects when Marginal babbling emerges (not well-
Orients to sound (i.e. looks for the their names are spoken formed syllables)
source of a sound) Comprehends some nouns - 6 to 10 months:
Mouths some objects Bangs objects together Canonical babbling emerges –
- 3 to 6 months: consonant-vowel combinations, may
Fixes gaze on others’ faces Post-institutionalized children may not have had be reduplicated (e.g. “da”, “muh”, or
Responds to own name by looking for opportunities to interact with objects and toys. “ba-ba-ba”)
the source of the voice They also may have had limited success in
Sometimes vocalizes in response to vocalizing to get attention, thus may be delayed. Children at severe risk for speech and language
speech Also, English word comprehension will be disorder and those with severe to profound
Pays close attention to movement in delayed due to late onset of exposure to hearing loss do not begin canonical babbling
his/her environment English. until after 11 months.

Produces the sounds m, n, d, b, y, w

Also produces wide variety of sound
combinations, including non-English
sounds

There is no published research on internationally-adopted children’s communication skills at 0 to 8 months. Many are older at the time of adoption.
Children adopted between 7 and 9 months of age were delayed relative to these norms at the time of adoption. However, they were performing well within the norms when measured at 2 years,
and again at 2 ½ years. (8)
Infants adopted before 12 months of age were delayed for the first 5 to 6 months, however, they all caught up by 2 years post-adoption. (10)
Children adopted at younger ages show slow development at first, but this is followed by a period of rapid acceleration. (1)
At 6 months post-adoption, children adopted between 10 and 18 months were found to already have reached the canonical babbling stage, but age of onset was unknown. (15)
8 to 12 months:
Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Phonology

- Illocutionary stage – expresses his/her - Understands 3 to 50 words - Jargon babble emerges – not repetitive
intents with gestures and vocalizations - Begins to relate symbols and objects patterns; changes in vowels and
Intents include requesting objects and - Turns head in response to hearing his/her consonants; has intonational contours of
actions, refusing, commenting, name the language (e.g. “do-ba-di”)
engaging in communicative games - Understands simple commands - Vocalizes during play and to the mirror
- Shouts or coughs to attract attention - Gestures and/or vocalizes to indicate
- Protests by pushing undesired objects away his/her wants and needs
- Waves goodbye - First true word may emerge – but for

- Participates in pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo some, first true word does not emerge until
later (up to 14 months)
- Changes behaviour in response to the
First words are often used for
emotional reactions of others
naming familiar people and
- Imitates novel sounds or actions objects, participating in
communicative games, and for
talking about appearance (e.g.
“Look!”), disappearance (e.g. “all
gone”, and recurrence (e.g.
“again”)

Children adopted at younger ages show slow development at first, but this is followed by a period of rapid acceleration. (1)
Although there is considerable individual variation, children adopted from China between 7 and 12 months of age began producing English words by 9 to 12 months post-adoption. (1)
12 to 18 months:
Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Phonology

- Locutionary stage – same intents - Average receptive vocabulary of 200 - MLU (mean length of his/her utterance in - Unintelligible with the exception of a few
words) = only one or two words
expressed with words rather than through words or more by 18 months words
- 50% of all utterances are nouns
preverbal means (i.e. gestures, eye - Words are understood outside of routine - Accurately imitates some words
contact, facial expressions) games Children between the ages of 11 and 23 - First 50 words:
- Frequency of communicative acts: five in - Points to familiar or desired objects months demonstrated a 9 month delay in Most often have CV shape (e.g. “ma”,
one minute of free play - Follows simple one-step commands grammatical morphemes. (11) “no”) or reduplicated CVCV (e.g. “bye
- Solicits another’s attention vocally - First true words emerge (if not earlier) bye”).
(possibly with a word) - Average expressive (spoken) vocabulary Use the same consonants that were
- Requests objects by pointing, vocalizing, of 50 to 100 words by 18 months used in babbling
or using word approximations - Semantic roles expressed in one-word Commonly use reduplication
- Also requests actions or help speech include: (repetition of the same syllable - e.g.
- Protests by saying no, shaking his/her Agent (e.g. Abigail) “wawa” for “water”, syllable deletion
head, or moving away Action (e.g. run) (e.g. “nana” for “banana”), assimilation

- Comments on objects or actions by Object (e.g. balloon) (one consonant begins to sound

directing the listener’s attention to it by Location (e.g. here) similar to another – e.g. “boop” for

pointing, vocalizing, or using word Possession (e.g. Mine) “boot”, consonant cluster reduction

approximations Rejection (e.g. No) (e.g. “boo” for “blue”), and final
Disappearance (e.g. All-gone) consonant deletion (e.g. “be” for “bed”)
- Answers simple wh- questions (who,
Nonexistence (e.g. No) - Words are selected or avoided for
what, when, where and why) with a vocal
Denial (e.g. No) expression based on favoured sounds
response
- Vocalizes with gestures
- Acknowledges speech of others by giving - Says “all gone”
eye contact, vocally responding, or - Can answer the question “What’s this?”
repeating a word said
- Asks for “more”

Children adopted between the ages of 13 and 18 months still showed delays in the development of four grammatical morphemes (e.g. verb endings -ed, -ing, possessives, and plurals) at 36
months of age. (10)
Children adopted from China between 13 and 18 months of age were producing an average of 186 words by 12 months post-adoption. However, considerable variation was observed; the range in
vocabulary size was 47 to 326 words. (1)
Children adopted from China between 13 and 18 months of age had a ML3 ranging from approximately 2 to 4 by 9 to 12 months post-adoption. (1)
18 to 24 months:
Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Phonology
- New intents include requesting information, - Understands single words for objects out - MLU = 1.8 - Speech is 50% intelligible
answering questions, and acknowledging of sight - Two-word utterances emerge - 70% of consonants are correct
- Frequency of communicative acts: - Listens to simple stories Like non-adopted peers, children began to - By 24 months, 9 to 10 initial and 5 to 6 final
7.5/minute of free play - Average expressive vocabulary of 200 to combine words once their vocabulary reached consonants are used
- Frequency of word use increases over 300 words by 24 months 50 to 200 words. (5) - CVC (e.g. “dog”) and two-syllable words
preverbal communication Children adopted between 18 and 23 months (e.g. “puppy”) emerge
Children adopted between 18 and 23 months
- Says “What’s that” to elicit attention had a shorter phrase length than the norms.
had a smaller vocabulary than the norms.
- Uses single word or two-word phrases to They showed a high rate of delay. (2)
They showed a high rate of delay. (2)
command, indicate possession, and express
problems In a study involving children adopted as - 33% of all utterances are nouns
- Names objects infants (between 7 and 8 months), 60% were
When children’s vocabulary reached 200
- Lots of verbal turn-taking within normal limits for expressive vocabulary
words (around 24 months of age), the
by the time they were 2 years old (16 to 17
proportion of nouns decreased. (5)
months post-arrival). (6)

- Semantic relations understood and spoken - Word order (i.e. the order of subject, verb
include: and object in a sentence) is consistent
Agent-action (e.g. Mommy go) - Utterances are “telegraphic” with few
Agent-object (e.g. Daddy ball) grammatical markers (i.e. omit “and”, “the”,
Action-object (e.g. Blow balloon) etc.)
Action-location (e.g. Come here) - Follows direction using one or two spatial
Entity-location (e.g. Spoon in) terms
Possessor-possession (e.g. My dolly) - Negation used in form of “no”
Demonstrative-entity (e.g. That - Possessive emerging
puppy) - Refers to self with pronoun and name (e.g.
Attribute-entity (e.g. Big truck) “Me Daniel”)
- Says their own name on request - Marks questions by raising pitch at the end
- Responds to yes/no questions of a phrase
- Begins to use some verbs and adjectives

Children adopted at older ages show large improvements during the first months home, but have further to go to “catch up” to this level. (1)
Children adopted between 19 and 24 months were only 1 to 3 months delayed at 1½ years post-adoption. (10)
Children adopted between 19 and 24 months had an average expressive vocabulary of 389 words by 12 months post-adoption. However, considerable variation was observed; the range of
vocabulary size was 185 to 593 words. (1)
Children adopted between 19 and 24 months had a ML3 of approximately 3.5 to 5 by 9 to 12 months post-adoption. (1)
24 to 36 months:
Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Phonology
- New intents include symbolic play (i.e. make - MLU = 3.1 - Speech is 75% intelligible by 36 months
Children between the ages of 24 and 29
believe play), talking about absent objects, - Combines three to four words - May omit final consonants, reduce
months are not catching up in vocabulary until
and misrepresenting reality (i.e. lying and Children between the ages of 24 and 29 consonant blends (e.g. “bue” for “blue”), or
they reach the latter end of this age range
teasing) months are catching up in phrase length. (2) substitute one consonant for another
(about 35 to 36 months). (2)
- Uses attention-getting words like “hey” to - 90% of children have mastered: p, t, k, m, n,
attract attention Children adopted between 24 and 32 months - 25% of utterances are nouns; 25% of y, h
- Uses “please” to make polite requests were moving towards an appropriate utterances are verbs - Awareness of and ability to produce rhyme
- Expresses emotion vocabulary size by 6 months post-adoption (30 Internationally-adopted children followed this emerges
- Clarifies messages in response to a request to 38 months). (8) trend. Once a 200-word vocabulary was Most internationally-adopted children
to do so reached, the proportion of nouns decreased demonstrate normal phonological abilities by
Infants adopted between 2 years, 7 months
- Produces short dialogues and the proportion of verbs and adjectives age 3 (if adopted at younger ages). This can
and 5 years, 1 month showed vocabulary of a
- Verbally introduces and changes topic increased. (5) be quite variable. (15)
24-month-old by 3 months post-adoption and
- Narratives (i.e. stories) are primarily labels - Uses “no”, “not”, “can’t”, and “don’t” as
had progressed to a level typical of a 24- to
and descriptions negation between subject and verb
30-month-old child by 3 to 9 months post-
Use sequences of unrelated ideas - Uses ’s for possession
arrival. (5)
st nd
Have themes but no plot - Understands 1 person (e.g.“I”) and 2
rd
- Understands and uses questions about person (e.g.“You”) pronouns; 3 person
objects, people and basic events (e.g.“She”) pronouns are emerging
- Uses and understands “why” questions - Articles such as “a” and “the” appear
- Understands and uses basic spatial terms - Uses “be” verbs inconsistently (e.g. “I am
(in, on, under, etc.) happy”)
- Follows a series of two related commands - Contracted form of “is” appears (e.g. “he’s”)
- Has concept of “one” and “all” - Present tense auxiliaries appear (e.g. “I
- Knows concept of “big” and “little” can help”); semi-auxiliaries “gonna”,
- Asks simple “who”, “why”, “where”, “how “wanna”, “gotta”, and “hafta” appear
many” questions - Regular past tense used; irregular past
- Answers “where” and “what doing” tense emerging (overgeneralized past
questions tense forms appear – e.g. “I swimmed” for
“I swam”)
- Adverbs of location appear (e.g. “here”)
- Use “is” plus an adjective
- Early emerging acquisition of “-ing”, “in”,
“on”, and plural
- Superlative “-est” emerges (e.g. “biggest”)

Children adopted between 25 and 30 months were 8 to 10 months delayed by 37 to 40 months of age. (10)
Children adopted at ages greater than 24 months had an average expressive vocabulary of 481 words by 12 months post-adoption. However, considerable variation was observed; the range of
vocabulary size was 231 to 680 words. (1)
Children adopted at ages greater than 24 months had a ML3 of approximately 5 to 8 by 9 to 12 months post-adoption. (1)
36 to 48 months:
Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Phonology
- New intents include reporting on past - MLU = 4.3 to 4.4
- Semantic relations between adjacent and - Becoming very intelligible in connected
events, reasoning, predicting, expressing - Produces 4 to 5 word phrases
conjoined sentences include: speech
empathy, creating imaginary roles and - First complex sentence forms appear and
Additive (e.g. “I went to the park and I - Use of reduplication, syllable deletion,
props, and maintaining interactions include:
went to the zoo”) assimilations, and final consonant deletion
- Direct requests (e.g. “I want a cookie”) Full prepositional clauses (e.g. “The
Temporal (e.g. “I went to the park is less common
decrease in frequency as indirect requests cat is under the chair”)
then I went to the zoo”) - Use of stopping (substituting an explosive
(e.g. “I am hungry”) increase Wh- clauses (e.g. “I went where the
Causal (e.g. “I went to bed because I sound for one that is not – e.g. “hout” for
- Makes conversational repairs and corrects other kids were playing”)
was tired”) “house”, fronting (producing a consonant in
others Simple infinitives (e.g. “I want to play”)
Contrastive (“I went to bed, but I the front of the mouth when it should be
- Adds more fillers to acknowledge a partner’s Conjoined sentences (e.g. “I am tired
could not sleep.”) produced at the back – e.g. “tey” for “key”),
message (e.g. “uh-huh” and “okay”) and I want to sleep”)
- Understands basic colour and shape cluster reduction (e.g. “geen” for “green”),
- Uses language for fantasies, jokes, and - Contracted modals appear (e.g. “won’t” and
words and liquid simplification continues
teasing “can’t”)
- Knows concepts of “in front of” and (substitution of “w” or “y” for “r” or “l” – e.g.
- Begins code-switching when talking with - Possessive ’s, simple past tense, present
“behind” “wed” for “red”)
very young children (i.e. adjusting language progressive verbs (e.g. “skipping”),
- Uses and understands basic kinship words - 90% of children have mastered: b, d, k, g,
to a simpler level using “baby talk”) contractions, “not”, and pronouns are
- Uses and understand “when” and “how” ng, f, s, w (in addition to previously
- Participates in longer dialogues consistent
questions mastered sounds p, t, m, n, y, h)
- Narratives are “primitive” with a major theme - Irregular past tense, articles, and
- Uses and understands basic size
and some organization of events in time possessives have been acquired
vocabulary
rd
- 3 person singular present tense emerges
- Uses conjunctions “and” and “because”
(e.g. “he runs”)
- Responds to commands involving three
- Uses “is”, “are”, and “am” in sentences
actions
- Uses “are” with plural nouns
- Tells two events in order of sequence
- Irregular plurals emerge (e.g. “mice”)
- Can answer “what if” questions
- Use of “because” is emerging
- Asks “how”, “why”, “when” questions
- Reflexive pronouns (e.g. “myself”, “herself”)
- Asks for detailed explanations
are emerging
- Auxiliary verbs are placed correctly in
questions and negatives (e.g. “Is it time to
go now?”)

There is not as much data available for children past the age of 3 years. In general, greater delays are expected, the older the child is at the time of adoption. This is due to the longer duration of
time spent in an institution without exposure to English. (15)
48 to 60 months:
Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Phonology
- Uses indirect requests - Knowledge of numbers and counting - MLU = 4.6 to 4.7 - Knowledge of letter names and sounds
- More elaborate discussions of emotions and emerges - Produces 4 to 8 word sentences emerges
feelings - Knows the concepts of “between”, “above”, - Basic sentence forms are acquired - Speech is 100% intelligible
- Correctly uses deictic terms (those that “below”, “top” and “bottom” - Later-developing complex sentences - Few omissions or substitutions of
specify time or place from the perspective of - Uses conjunctions “when”, “so”, “because” emerge, including: consonants
the speaker) including “this”, “that”, “here”, and “if” Relative clauses (e.g. “My friend who - Errors on s, sh, r, l, v, z, zh, ch, j, and th
and “there” - Asks for the meanings of words lives down the street is coming over”) may persist
- Ability to address specific requests for Infinitive clauses with different - More errors present in difficult blends (e.g.
clarification increases subjects (e.g. “I want him to go) “string”)
- Narratives are “chains” of unfocused Gerund clauses (e.g. “Swimming is - Ability to segment words into syllables
sequences of events fun”) emerges
Have some plot Wh- infinitive clauses (e.g. “I don’t
No central character know where to put it”)
No high point or resolution - Possessive pronouns are emerging
- Later-developing morphemes acquired
including “be” verbs, regular past tense,
and third person “s”
- Uses past tense auxiliaries (e.g. “I could
not go”)
- Uses “will” for future tense
- “If” and “so” appear in sentences
- Irregular plurals are consistent
- “Ours”, “they”, and “their” are consistent
- Uses “could” and “would”
- Makes frequent agreement errors between
noun-verb and adjective-noun (e.g. “They
wants to go”)
- Passive is emerging (e.g. “The dog was
taken for a walk”)
- Comparative “-er” is emerging (e.g.
“bigger”)
- Reflexive pronouns are more consistent

There is not as much data available for children past the age of 3 years. In general, greater delays are expected, the older the child is at the time of adoption. This is due to the longer duration of
time spent in an institution without exposure to English. (15)
Chart references:

Gard, A., Gillman, L., & Gorman, J. (1993). Speech and Language
Development Chart (2nd Ed.). Austin: Pro-Ed. 7. Roberts, J.A., Pollock, K.E. & Krakow, R. (2005). Continued
catch-up and language delay in children adopted from China. Seminars
Paul, Rhea (2001). Language Disorders From Infancy Through in Speech and Language, 26, 76-85.
Adolescence (2ndEd.). St. Louis: Mosby.
8. Krakow, R.A., Tao, S. & Roberts, J. (2005). Adoption age
effects on English language acquisition: Infants and toddlers from China.
Seminars in Speech and Language, 26, 33-43.
International adoption literature:
9. Glennen, S. (2005). New arrivals: Speech and language
1. Pollock, K.E. (2005). Early language growth in children assessment for internationally adopted infants and toddlers within the first
adopted from China: Preliminary normative data. Seminars In Speech months home. Seminars in Speech and Language, 26, 10-21.
and Language, 26, 22-3232.
10. Glennen, S. & Masters, M.G. (2002). Typical and atypical
2. Xing Tan, T. & Yang, Y. (2005). Language development of language development in infants and toddlers adopted from Eastern
Chinese adoptees 18-35 months old. Early Childhood Research Europe. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11, 417-433.
Quarterly, 20, 57-68.
11. Glennen, S., Rosinsky-Grunhut, A., & Tracy, R. (2005).
3. Roberts, J.A., Pollock, K.E., Krakow, R., Price, J., Fulmer, Linguistic interference between L1 and L2 in internationally adopted
K.C., & Wang, P.P. (2005). Language development in preschool-age children. Seminars in Speech and Language, 26, 64-75.
children adopted from China. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Research, 48, 93-107. 12. Glennen, S. & Bright, B.J. (2005). Five years later:
Language in school-age internationally adopted children. Seminars in
4. Pollock, K.E., Price, J.R. & Fulmer, K.C. (2003). Speech- Speech and Language, 26, 86-101.
language acquisition in children adopted from China: A longitudinal
investigation of two children. Journal of Multilingual Communication 13. Meese, R.L. (2005). A few new children:
Disorders, 1, 184-193. Postinstitutionalized children of intercountry adoption. The Journal of
Special Education, 39, 157-167.
5. Geren, J., Snedeker, J., & Ax, L. (2005). Starting over: A
preliminary study of early lexical and syntactic development in 14. Glennen, S. (2002). Language development and delay in
internationally adopted preschoolers. Seminars in Speech and Language, internationally adopted infants and toddlers: A review. American Journal
26, 44-53. of Speech-Language Pathology, 11, 333-339.

6. Krakow, R.A., & Roberts, J. (2003). Acquisition of English 15. Pollock, K.E. & Price, J.R. (2005). Phonological skills of children
vocabulary by young Chinese adoptees. Journal of Multilingual adopted from China: Implications for assessment. Seminars in Speech
Communication Disorders, 1, 169-176. and Language, 26, 54-63.