0 – 6 months
At this age, your child might:
- respond to voices
- gurgle, coo and squeal
- smile back when smiled at
- look at parents’ faces when they talk
- begin making extended vowel sounds, like ‘ah’
- start to laugh
- have different cries for different needs
- babble (like “ba-ba”)
- try to mimic sounds
6 months +
At this age, your child might:
- babble for attention
- laugh or squeal
- be able to wave ‘bye bye’
- enjoy games like peek-a-boo
- begin to recognise names of family members
- recognise mum’s voice
- explore objects, shake them or put them into their mouth
12 months +
At this age, your child might:
- understand very simple commands like ‘no’, or ‘clap your hands’
- develop first words (5 or more)
- know their own name
- relate some objects, such as putting a spoon in a cup
18 months +
At this age, your child might:
- understand action words like “sit down”, “drink”, or “come here”
- copy frequently heard short sentences
- copy sounds of objects like cars or animals
- name objects like ball, cup or sock
- follow simple instructions like “give me the ball”
- by 2 ½ years, use 3-4 words in a sentence
3 years +
At this age, your child might:
- identify colours
- describe an object
- uses many pronouns like I, he, she, or we
- understand describing words like big, wet, or small
- answer questions logically
- use 4-5 words or longer in a sentence
- understand the use of objects
4 years +
At this age, your child might:
- respond to “why” questions
- describe an activity like making a sandwich or getting dressed
- name members of a category, like “name a fruit”
- indicate body parts such as head, knee, or leg
- compare objects
- understand complex instructions, like “put the small cup under the chair”
- understand time concepts like yesterday, tomorrow, or last week
