Parents nowadays are worried about their baby’s language skills. The baby’s word power milestones will help them to assess the language skill of their child. It will be clear at what age do babies start talking words.
It’s exciting for every parent to listen to the first word of his child. All the words of your child are to let you know what he wants. From birth to the first few years, a child’s language develops progressively. But you must know every child is unique and learns all language skills at different times.
Moreover, it’s important to track your child’s language development. It’ll help you know that your child is developing normally. But how to know if your child is learning language skills at the right time or not. Here we come some babies word power milestones that will help you track your child’s language development.
Table of Contents
Stages of language development
Before going to our main concern, you must know the 4 stages of language development. These stages of language development are:
The pre-linguistic stage
In this stage of language development, your baby will not speak any proper words. He will hear the sounds in the surroundings and will try to speak in the same way. This stage will continue from 5th to 12thmonth of age. He’ll be able to make
- Gestures
- Adequate eye contact
- Cooing
- Crying
- Babbling
- Pre-speech sounds such as waaah, dadaaa, or mamaaa
The Holophrase stage
The second stage of language development is the Holophrase stage. In this stage, your baby will start speaking one word to express his feelings. Moreover, nouns are part of his most of the vocabulary. For instance, if he is hungry, he would say “botty” or somewhat similar to it. It means he wants to say, please give me my milk bottle.
In child development, a holophrase is a single word or utterance used by a young child to convey a complete thought or sentence. Holophrases are typically used by infants and toddlers who are just beginning to acquire language and have limited vocabulary.
For example, a child might say “up” to convey the idea of “please pick me up” or “I want to be picked up.” Similarly, a child might say “mama” to mean “where is my mom?” or “I want my mom.”
Holophrases are considered an important milestone in language development as they represent a child’s ability to use language to communicate their thoughts and needs, even if they do not yet have the vocabulary to express themselves fully. Over time, as a child’s language skills develop, they will begin to use more complex sentence structures and expand their vocabulary, moving beyond the use of holophrases.
Statistically in this stage;
- Nouns are 50% of the baby’s vocabulary
- Verbs are 30% of the baby’s vocabulary
- Questions are remaining 20%
Two-word stage
In this stage, your baby will learn to speak two-word sentences. These sentences are mostly nouns + verbs (modifiers). For instance, your baby will start saying, “mommy happy,” or “daddy walking.”
Or you can also say that at this stage baby will also start explaining the situation with the help of a verb.
Telegraphic stage
This is the last and most advanced stage of language development. In this stage, your baby will start making proper stances with proper grammar and structure. Moreover, the baby will start making links between objects and words. In this stage,
- First, the child will start pronouncing vowels,
- After that, the baby will start pronouncing consonants.
- However, he would modify the words he cannot speak. For example, he’ll speak “thoap” instead of “soap.”
At what age do babies start talking words?
Babies typically start saying their first words between 10 to 14 months of age. However, the age at which a baby starts talking can vary and some babies may begin speaking a few words earlier or later.
In the first few months of life, babies typically communicate through crying, cooing, and other vocalizations. As they grow and develop, they start to babble and produce a range of sounds, which eventually turn into words.
It’s important to note that the development of language skills in babies is influenced by a variety of factors, including genetics, exposure to language, and individual differences in temperament and learning style. Additionally, some babies may experience delays in language development due to hearing impairments, developmental disorders, or other medical conditions. If you have concerns about your child’s language development, it’s a good idea to talk to your pediatrician or a speech-language pathologist.
Wordpower milestone for 0-12 months old baby
Before playing with words, your baby will start smiling by looking at you. After that, he’ll start recognizing your voice and then start making some voices. Some babies word power milestones for 1-year-old are enlisted below:
- The first sound a baby makes is cooing (a sound besides crying) between the 6th to 8th weeks of age.
- In the 16th week of his life, your baby will start laughing by seeing different surroundings.
- On the 6th and 9th month age, your baby will start speaking repeated likes “bababa.” He will repeat these words for so long that it turns into nonsense jargon.
- In the 10th and 15th month of age, your baby will say the first word.
Up to 12 months of age, your baby will start following your instructions. Moreover, he’ll try to speak more and more words.
● In the end, a 1-year-old will be able to speak from one to three words. However, these words would not be clear, complete. The best thing is you would easily understand those cute and incomplete words.
Things to worry about:
You should take your child to the doctor if he is not
- Reacting to any sound till the 5th month of age.
- Making sounds or trying to locate the sounds till the 6th month of age.
- Reacting to his name till the 10th month of age.
Wordpower milestone for 1-2 years old baby
Between 1-2 years of age, your baby will step into the world of words. Let’s know what your child’s language skills should be in the 1-2 years of age. Between 1-2 years of age, your child will
- Say the first word and continue learning more words.
- Make different gestures to tell you about his needs and requirements.
- Start using different pronouns like you, she, or it.
- Start identifying parts of the body. For instance, if you ask him, “where is the nose?” he will touch his or your nose.
- Start enjoying and listening to rhymes and songs. Start identifying common objects with their names like “cup” or “doll.”
- Understand some common sentences or phrases you speak. For example, your baby will instantly kiss you if you say, “give mama a kiss.”
- Increase his vocabulary due to his curious nature.
- Start making two words sentences, like “dada shirt.”
Now the question is, how many words should a 2-year-old know or say? A 2-year-old should know at least 50 unique words. These words can be juice, mama, dada, or anything else.
Things to worry about:
You should consult with the doctor if your 2 years old baby is
- Not understanding the simpler words
- Not following simple instructions
- Don’t have a vocabulary of at least 10 words.
- Not speaking two-word phrases.
Word power milestone for 2-3 years old baby
By the 3rd year of age, your baby will start speaking in clear words. Here are some language and word milestones that your child should achieve by the 3rd year of age. You baby should
- Use different nouns properly like “car,” “book,” “boat,” or a “train.”
- Start using sentences with three or more words with some proper grammar. For instance, he would start saying, “this is dada shirt.”
- Start answering some questions from adults.
- Start following double instructions. For example, if you tell him, “come over here and meet uncle,” he’ll do the same.
- Understand your temperament, whether you’re happy or sad.
- Pronounce words in somewhat clear manners. At this age, about 2/3rd of the unfamiliar people will start understanding his language.
- Start singing some rhymes or songs.
Things to worry about:
You should take your baby to the doctor if he is not
- Pronouncing words clearly
- Able to answer you simpler questions
- Able to speak a complete sentence
FAQs
How many words should a 1-year-old know?
Your 1-year-old baby should know at least one to three words. These words can be unclear or incomplete. Your baby will also start reacting to your one-word instruction by 12 months of age.
How many words should a 2-year-old say?
Your two-year child will
- Say around 50 or more different words
- Use simple phrases
- Make two-word sentences
- Understand more than he can speak
How many words should a 3-year-old say?
A three-year-old child can
- Speak at least 200 different words.
- Use simpler sentences with three or four words
- Clearer and understandable sentences
- Follow double instruction
- Understand expressions
At what age do babies say, mama?
In between the 6th to 10th month of age, your baby will start saying “mama” or “dada.” But according to a pediatrician, Thomas M. Seman, a baby doesn’t know what these words are referred to at this age.
How do you teach your baby to talk?
You can teach your baby to talk by
- Talking with your child as much as you can
- Asking him to help you
- Teaching him simple rhymes
- Encouraging your child to talk with you, and his friends
Final thoughts
Altogether, Babies word power milestones with knowing at what age do babies start talking words will help you know whether your child’s language development is on the right track or not. You can follow these milestones and assess your child’s language ability. If you find any delay in the speaking ability of your child, consult your pediatrician immediately.