Speech Steps

1. Vocalization - Birth – 4 month

Ø   Crying/ Makes pleasure sounds

Ø   Reflective crying – for different needs, e.g. food, hit

Ø   Cooing - repeats the same sound a lot, e.g. u-u-u, o-o-o, i-i-i

Ø   Gargling – a-ggg

2007

2. Bubbling – 5-12 month. Sounds are produced with front parts of mouth; repeating the same sounds, pattern

Ø  Repetitive (5-8 month) babbling sounds more speech-like with many different sounds, including p, b, and m, e.g. ba-ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma-m. Tells you (by sound or gesture) when he wants you to do something

Ø  Canonical (12 month) – different consonants, e.g. bata-bata-bata. Babbling has both long and short groups of sounds such as “tata upup bibibibi.”

Ø   Uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep attention

 2008

3. Meaningful words – 1-2 years Says more words every month

Ø   Has 1 or 2 words, e.g. uh-oh, bye-bye, dada, mama, no, although they may not be clear

Ø   Labeling common objects, e.g. book, car, ball

Ø   Puts two-words together, e.g. daddy gone, baby sleep, more cookie, no juice, mommy book

Ø   Uses some 1-2 word questions, e.g. Where kitty? Go bye-bye. What’s that?

2009

4. Phrases/ Simple sentences - 2-3 years

Ø  Has a word for almost everything

Ø  Uses 2-3-word “sentences” to talk about and ask for things. Speech is understood by familiar listeners most of the time

Zosia and Basia P, 2010

5. Simple talk - 3-4 years

Ø Talks about activities at school or at friends’ homes. People outside family usually understand child’s speech

Ø  Uses a lot of sentences that have 4 or more words

6. Story taller - 4-5 years

Ø  Uses sentences that give lots of details, e.g, I like to read my books.

Ø  Tells stories that stick to topic

Ø  Communicates easily with other children and adults

Ø  Says most sounds correctly except a few, like l, s, r, v, z, j, ch, sh, th