Toddler Social Skills Milestones
Understanding language is far more important to your toddler than actually speaking it. Once they really understand, they will communicate with you. Your toddler’s first words are almost always labels ie: names for people, animals or other things that are important to them. As a toddler, your child will have a language explosion – they will understand more than they say, but they will imitate everything they hear, learn new words every day, start putting words together into short sentences and want to talk to you all the time.
The following guidelines will help you know what to expect with your child’s language development and it is important to remember that there is variation in children’s language development.
Milestones for your toddler at 12-18 months:
Recognizes his or her name
Understands “no” Understands simple instructions
Points and gestures to call attention to an event or to show what they want
Imitates (copies) familiar words
Waves good-bye and claps
Uses “mama” and “dada” and several other words, usually names of objects or people
Attempts to communicate by mixing jargon with real words e.g. babbling that sounds like real words
Vocalizes for enjoyment
Points to show you something Points to a few body parts when asked, ie: “Where’s your mouth?”
Imitates animal sounds
Begins to show sense of humour
Plays best on their own; doesn’t want to share toys with others, shouting “mine, mine!”
Milestones for your toddler at 30-36 months (2 ½ – 3 years):
Uses about 450 words
Can give first name when asked
Uses past tense (e.g. “ed” endings) and plurals (e.g. “s” endings) (not always correctly) Combines names of things with action words ie: baby sleep
Understands simple time concepts such as “last night” and “tomorrow”
Refers to self as “me” or “I” instead of by name
Uses their words to get adult attention ie: “watch me!”
Likes to hear the same story over and over again
Uses “no” or “not” in their speech
Talks to other children as well as adults
Answers “where” questions
Uses short sentences to tell what he/she has just done or wants to do ie: “me do it” or “me want to jump”
Matches 3-4 colors
Knows the words “big” and “little”
Holds up fingers to tell age
Uses 10 – 20 different words
Starts to combine 2 words (e.g. baby sleep)
Uses words to make needs and wants known, like “more”, “up”, “juice”
Imitates sounds and words more clearly
Points to objects and/or uses gestures to show or direct attention to something
Points to own toes, eyes and nose
Brings an object from another room when asked (follows 1-part directions)
Sings simple songs
Mixes real words and jargon
Practices words over and over on thier own e.g. while playing in their bed etc.
Milestones for your toddler at 24-30 months (2 – 2 ½ years):
Understands simple questions and commands
Identifies many body parts Carries on “conversation” with self and dolls
Asks “what’s this?”, “what’s that?”, and “where’s my…”
Sentence length of 2–3 words ie: “more juice” or “want cookie”
Names pictures and actions
Refers to self by name
Uses 2 – word negative phrases such as “no want”, “not go” or “no right”
Forms some plurals by adding “s” e.g. books
Asks for a drink or snack
Has about 200 spoken words in their vocabulary
Milestones for your toddler at 30-36 months (2 ½ – 3 years):
Uses about 450 words
Can give first name when asked
Uses past tense e.g. “ed” endings and plurals e.g. “s” endings, not always correctly
Combines names of things with action words ie: baby sleep
Understands simple time concepts such as “last night” and “tomorrow”
Refers to self as “me” or “I” instead of by name
Uses their words to get adult attention ie: “watch me!”
Likes to hear the same story over and over again
Uses “no” or “not” in their speech
Talks to other children as well as adults and answers “where” questions
Uses short sentences to tell what he/she has just done or wants to do ie: “me do it” or “me want to jump”
Matches 3-4 colors
Knows the words “big” and “little”
Holds up fingers to tell age