Speech and language development
Speech and language development is a gradual process that certainly depends on the environment but also varies between children living in the same environment. Babies first learn to make sounds using their tongues and pharynx. They begin with cooing and making simple and random sounds, and then speak gibberish, which is their comprehension and imitation of speech and language. Most children follow a similar pattern of speech development.
- From 1 to 3 months of age, babies cry and coo.
- At 4 to 6 months of age, babies sigh, grunt, gurgle, squeal, laugh, and make different crying sounds.
- Between 6 and 9 months, babies babble in syllables and start imitating tones and speech sounds.
- By 12 months, a baby's first words usually appear, and by 18 months to 2 years, children use around 50 words and will start putting two words together into short sentences.
- From 2-3 years, sentences extend to 4 and 5 words. Children can recognize and identify almost all common objects and pictures, as well as use pronouns (I, me, he, she) and some plurals. Strangers can understand most words.
- From 3-5 years, conversations become longer and more abstract, and complex.
- By the time a child turns 5, they usually have a 2,500-word vocabulary and talk in complete, grammatically correct sentences. They ask a lot of ‘why?’, ‘what?’ and ‘who?’ questions.
Parents play a major role in helping with speech development. They can help by making noises and faces at the children, pointing at objects and people and naming them, encouraging children to name things and people, and always giving your children the opportunity to talk and ask questions.