Speech and language milestones, birth to age 5
Milestones are reassuring and stressful in equal measure. Before you read these, one thing matters more than any single item: the CDC updated its checklists in 2022 so each milestone describes what about 75 percent of children can do by that age. ASHA's milestones use the same 75 percent threshold. So a skill your child has not reached yet is a reason to ask a question, not a diagnosis.
By 12 months, many children say mama or dada or another special name for a parent, wave bye-bye, try to copy sounds you make, and pause when you say no. Understanding usually runs ahead of talking at this stage, which is normal.
By 18 months, a lot of children try to say three or more words besides mama and dada, and can follow a simple one-step direction without you pointing or gesturing, like handing you a toy when you ask for it.
By 2 years, many children use at least 50 words, put two words together like more milk, and can point to things in a book when you name them. Around this age, a stranger might understand roughly half of what your child says. That figure is a rough clinical guide, not a hard rule.
By 3 years, a lot of children hold a back-and-forth conversation of two or more exchanges, ask who, what, where, and why, and talk well enough for people outside the family to understand most of the time.
By 4 years, many children speak in sentences of four or more words and can tell you about something that happened during their day. Strangers usually understand nearly everything, even if a few sounds are not perfect yet.
By 5 years, a lot of children can tell a short story with at least two events, keep a conversation going across several turns, and produce most speech sounds correctly. The latest sounds to settle, like R and the two TH sounds, can still be works in progress well past this point.
If your child is behind on a few of these, take a breath. Children vary, and a single missed milestone is common. What the experts agree on is the next step: rather than wait and see, ask. An evaluation will tell you whether your child is on track.