pediatrics
Childhood Development
Language and Speech Development in Children
The ability to understand language precedes the ability to speak; children who express few words usually can understand a great deal. Although delays in expressive speech are typically not accompanied by other developmental delays, all children with excessive language delays should be evaluated for the presence of other delays in development. Children who have delays in both receptive and expressive speech more often have additional developmental problems. Evaluation of any delay should start with an Evaluation . Most children with speech delay have normal intelligence. Some studies suggest that children with accelerated speech development are of above-average intelligence. Speech progresses from the utterance of vowel sounds (cooing) to the introduction of syllables that start with consonants (ba-ba-ba). Most children can say “Dada” and “Mama” specifically by 12 months, use several words by 18 months, and form 2- or 3-word phrases by 2 years. The average 3-year-old child can carry on a conversation. A 4-year-old child can tell simple stories and can engage in conversation with adults or other children. A 5-year-old child may have a vocabulary of several thousand words. Even before age 18 months, children can listen to and understand a story being read to them. By age 5, children are able to recite the alphabet and to recognize simple words in print. These skills are all fundamental to learning how to read simple words, phrases, and sentences. Depending on exposure to books and natural abilities, most children begin to read by age 6 or 7. These milestones are highly variable. 