Common Developmental Delays
Developmental delays can range from mild to severe. This article provides some developmental benchmarks to help you identify these delays.
In this article, you will find:
Speech-language benchmarks
Here are some of the speech-language benchmarks.By around six months:
- recognizes her own name
- babbles, laughs, vocalizes, and whines purposefully
- cries in response to angry voices
- turns and looks at unfamiliar sounds
- understands simple directions
- imitates various sounds, and says one or two words
- identifies two body parts on himself
- recognizes familiar people and objects in pictures
- communicates needs and wants by gesture or vocalization
- may say up to fifteen words
- says his own name
- says two-word phrases often, as well as some three-word phrases
- uses 150-300 words, including nouns, verbs, and adjectives (e.g., puppy, go, dirty)
- is understood by strangers most of the time
- follows three-step commands (e.g., get your plate, put it in the sink, and wash your hands)
- imaginary play emerges plays with dolls, talks to stuffed animals, and uses objects symbolically, such as pretending that a string bean is an airplane
- has a complex conversation, asks who and why
- repeats simple words in order
- shows mastery of simple grammar, but may mispronounce up to half the basic sounds
- speaks in detailed sentences
- communicates well with peers and adults
- says most sounds correctly but may have trouble with l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, and th