Child Development

Developmental milestone charts highlight typical behaviors at various age intervals, but they are not exhaustive and can vary from one child to another. This list serves as a general guide to help caregivers understand the typical stages of a child’s development.

0-3 Months

Startles in the presence of loud sounds
Cries differently when tired, hungry, or in pain
Grasps an object when placed in hand
Attempts to reach for object but often misses
Recognizes familiar objects and people
Maintains fixed gaze at objects of interest
Follows a moving object or person with eyes
Moves eyes toward light and sound
Vowel like sounds begin to emerge in the form of cooing, gurgling, and sighs
Begins to attempt imitating speech by vocalizing

3-6 Months

Sits with support
Smiles at familiar people
Giggling emerges, typically seen when playing with a toy or reacting to a caregiver
Bangs objects when in hand
Turns head when their name is called
Vocally expresses excitement (at the sight of a toy or a familiar person)
Makes noises when spoken to
Babbling begins ("aga," "baba")
- Babbles to self, toys, or people
- Pitch and inflection in babbling develops
Sound 'm' is produced by pursing lips together
Attempts to imitate sounds

6-9 Months

Sits without support
Moves around by crawling
Explores objects with hands and mouth
Drinks from a cup
Recognizes names of family members and shows interest in pictures
Cries when parent leaves the room
Giggles during joyful moments
Attempts to imitate familiar sounds and actions
Begins to respond to 'no'
Babbles chains of sounds in reduplicative manner ("ma-ma-ma," "aba-ba-ba")
Imitates intonation and speech sounds
Sounds that appear in babbling include; m, n, t, d, b, p, y

9-12 Months

First steps appear with assistance
Begins to use objects correctly and finds hidden objects
Play develops to exploratory phase (e.g., banging objects together, feeling, mouthing, throws toys with intent)
Claps hands
Expands arms to be picked up
Responds to 'no' by pausing/stopping briefly
Responds to simple verbal instructions (e.g. Give me, clap hands)
Responds to simple questions by with searching movements
Produces some vowel sounds ("oh," "ow")
Combine sounds in syllable structures ("ma," "ba")
First true words may appear closer towards 12 months
Uses 1-10 words and gestures to communicate ("uh-oh," "mama," "daddy")

1-1½ Years

Engages in continual movement, running emerges
Functional play develops to intentional use of toys/object
- Placing objects in and out of containers
- Attempts to get toys out of reach
- Carrying/relocating objects from one place to another
- Scribbling with a crayon
Attends to a book or a toy for 2 minutes
Brings object to show adult
Imitates many actions and activities
Follows simple 1-step directions
Points/reaches for objects of desire or when named
Uses sentence-like intonations known as jargon
Produces incomplete words ("go" for goat)
Pointing and vocalizing commonly seen at this stage
Uses 3-50 words, combinations of 1 to 2 words begins to emerge (e.g., "thank you," "big ball")
Speech is mostly hard to understand

1½-2 Years

Can climb on and off furniture
Walks without assistance
Can kick and throw a ball
Object permanence fully acquired (Child searches for an object that was placed out of their plane of sight)
Begins to show defiant behavior
Identifies common objects/pictures and body parts by pointing, reaching, or grasping
Begins to follow directions with spatial concepts (e.g., Put it in, Pick it up, Where is it?)
Uses more words than gestures around 24 months
Says name when asked
Names objects and pictures
Verbal turn-taking emerges
Begins to combine 2+ words together (e.g., "doggie eat," "more apple," "mommy, car gone")
Makes comments about immediate events (e.g., "oh no," "cat sleep")
Can respond "yes" and "no" verbally or gesturally (headshake, head nod)
Uses 50-200 words by 24 months (some may be made up words)
Unfamiliar people can understand 25-50% of the child's speech

2–2½ Years

Joint play begins to develop
Play develops meaning and can be carried out in sequence (e.g., arranging furniture in a doll house; cooking, feeding, then putting a doll to sleep)
Language starts to develop complexity as the child learns new concepts
- Articles (a and the)
- Present markers (-ing)
- Contractions (don't, can't, it's, that's)
- Pronouns (I, you, me)
Names some objects by their use (e.g., What do we sleep on? What do we eat with?)
Combines 2-3 words to make sentences (e.g., "girl is sleeping," "cats in box")
Uses 200 words that others can understand
Answers "What doing?" "What do you hear with?" and "Where" questions
Family members can understand 50-75% of the child's speech
- Uses sounds m, n, p, b, t, d, h, and w in speech
- Sounds ng, k, and g are emerging
- May change or omit some sounds (e.g., "pay" for play, "fog" for frog, "deew" for deer)

2½-3 Years

Plays with other children
Play develops more complexity
- Pretend or imaginary play emerges
- Beginning interest in interactive play with others
- Sharing/exchanging of toys with others
Develops sequence awareness (e.g., bedtime or meal routines)
Knowledge of concepts expands
- Spatial: in, on, under
- Descriptive: big, blue, round
- Quantitative: one, all, more
- Negation concepts emerging ("Show me the one that is not green," "Is the dog sleeping?")
Use of proper grammatical markers in simple sentences emerging
- Auxiliary: I am hungry, He is sleeping
- Regular past tense appears: Walked
- Possession: daddy's
- Uses pronouns: I, me, you, mine,
- Emerging pronouns: he, she, it
Answers simple "Where," "Who," "Why," and "How many" questions by age 3
Begins asking simple questions ("What's that?")
Uses 250-400 words
Combines 3-4 word sentences ("I want to play," "He's swimming," "Go get it")
Repeats sentences consisting of 6-7 syllables accurately
Family members can understand 50-80% of the child's speech
- Sounds mastered at age 3: p, m, w, h, n, b
- Some distortions of sounds are present

3-3½ Years

Cooperative play emerges
Initiates play/activities with caregivers or peers
Reenacts events from previous experiences (e.g., birthday party)
Use of proper grammatical markers expands
- Third person singular: He runs
- Contracted forms: won't, can't
- Irregular plurals emerge: children, feet
- Uses conjunction: and
Attempts at telling stories appear
Can answer more complex questions ("What do you do when you're hungry?")
Completes sentences ("Animals live in the ______")
Uses 800 words
Combines 4-5 word sentences
- Compound sentences emerge ("He goes and he is running")
Speech becomes more clear to unfamiliar people

3½-4 Years

Pretend play consists of two or more connected ideas
Can operate mechanical toys (e.g. remote controlled toy cars)
Enjoys playing with a group of children
Role-play emerges (May assume a role of another person; superhero)
Understands the concept of groups that items belong to
Use of proper grammatical markers expands
- Reflexive pronouns emerge: myself
- Conjunction emerging: because
- Uses negation consistently: He is not hungry
- Uses 'got' in sentences: I got it
Begins to make jokes and may act silly at times
Back and forth conversation emerging
Can complete verbal analogies ("My hand is big and your hand is _____")
Answers "How much," "How long," and "What if" questions
Asks "How," "Why," and "When" questions
Questions like "What was/were...." emerge
Can tell stories consisting of real and make-belief events
Uses 1,000-1,500 words
Combines 4-5 word sentences
- Compound sentences emerge ("He is sleeping and she is running")
Speech is 75-90% intelligible
- Consonants mastered at age 4: k, g, d, t, ng, f, y

4-4½ Years

Imaginative play is developed
Can identify missing parts in pictures
Uses scripts in play schemas using dolls or figures
Self-praises own behavior and completed projects
Uses passive voice at times (The boy was chased by the dog)
Answers more complex questions ("Why did you hide the doll behind the sofa chair?")
Can describe something (e.g., How an object is used, what something looks like)
Makes conversational repairs if the communicative partner did not understand and corrects others
Uses primitive narratives and provides some background information for the listener
Can maintain conversation for several turns and ends conversations appropriately
Combines 4-7 words in sentences
Speech is 90% intelligible in connected speech

4½-5 Years

Fantasy play begins to develop
Shows interest in exploring places
May appear motivated with competition
Begins to understand the concept of time
Understands cause and effect and can respond to related questions
Retells familiar stories or events from previous experiences
- Stories follow a sequence but not necessarily the main idea
Discusses emotions or feelings with more detail
Use of proper grammatical markers becomes more refined
- Understands and uses future tense: will
Can define words
Answers "Why" questions appropriately
Combines 5-8 word sentences
Speech is understood most of the time by familiar or unfamiliar listeners
- Understands speech sound errors and self-corrects
- Some difficult words may be mispronounced (hippopotamus, chandelier)

5-6 Years

Appears more independent
Can distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality
Plays games based on rules and instructions
Creates stories using imagination
Asks permission for use of objects from others
Uses polite markers ("Please," "thank you," "you're welcome") regularly
Can describe similarities and differences of items
Can relay name and address to others
Grammar improves
- Uses all pronouns accurately
- Uses superlatives (bigger, biggest)
- Uses deictic terms correctly (this/that, here/there)
- Adverbs emerging (happily, slower)
Can formulate compound and complex sentences
Speech is 100% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners
- Sounds l and r are mastered by the age of 6

6-7 Years

Enjoys interacting with clusters of close friends
Can spend extended amount of time on one activity
Sense of 'belonging' becomes important
Begins to develop improved self-control
May display increasing need for independence and privacy
Understands more about feelings and relationships
Use of slang may appear
True narratives are well developed in this age group
Provides varied information when asked
Most grammatical markers are developed
- Use of if and so are developed
- Use of irregular comparatives properly: good, better, best
- Iteration emerges ("You have to go to bed early so you're not tired)

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