Receptive

• Startles at loud sounds.
• Quiets or smiles when you talk.
• Seems to recognize your voice. Quiets if crying.
• Moves eyes in the direction of sounds.
• Responds to changes in tone of voice.
• Notices toys that make sounds.
• Pays attention to music.

Expressive

• Cries change for different needs.
• Smiles at people.
• Coos and babbles when playing alone or with you.
• Makes speech-like babbling sounds, like pa, da, and mi.
• Giggles and laughs.
• Makes sounds when happy or upset.

Feeding

• Breast or bottle fed exclusively until 4-6 months
• Drinks 7-8 ounces 4-6 times daily
• Has coordinated suck-swallow-breathe pattern during feeding

Receptive

• Turns and looks in the direction of sounds.
• Looks when you point.
• Turns when you call her name.
• Understands words for common items and people—words like cup, truck, juice, and daddy.
• Starts to respond to simple words and phrases, like “No,” “Come here,” and “Want more?”
• Plays games with you, like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake.
• Listens to songs and stories for a short time

Expressive

• Babbles long strings of sounds, like mimi upup babababa.
• Uses sounds and gestures to get and keep attention.
• Points to objects and shows them to others.
• Uses gestures like waving bye, reaching for “up,” and shaking his head no.
• Imitates different speech sounds.
• Says 1 or 2 words, like hi, dog, dada, mama, or uh-oh. *This will happen around his first birthday, but sounds may not be clear*

Feeding

• Initiates accepting purees from spoon at 4-6 months
• Opening and closing mouth around the spoon
• Pushing tongue forward during puree feeding disappears after 1-2 months of puree introduction
• Takes 6-8 ounces of a combination of food/liquid 4-6 times daily
• Can introduce open cup or sippy cup
• At 9 months, accepts mashed/soft table foods and is self-feeding finger foods

Receptive

• Points to a few body parts when asked.
• Follows 1-part directions, like “Roll the ball” or “Kiss the baby.”
• Responds to simple questions, like “Who’s that?” or “Where’s your shoe?”
• Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes.
• Points to pictures in a book when you name them

Expressive

• Uses new words regularly.
• Uses p, b, m, h, and w in words.
• Starts to name pictures in books.
• Asks questions, like “What’s that?”, “Who’s that?”, and “Where’s kitty?”
• Puts 2 words together, like “more apple,” “no bed,” and “mommy book.”

Feeding

• Beginning to eat coarsely chopped/mashed “table foods”
• Self-feeds using spoon/fork
• Tolerates a variety of tastes/textures from all food groups
• Can use an open cup
• Moves tongue laterally to move food to molars for chewing
• Approaching 2 years, might develop strong taste/texture preferences and/or food jag on a particular food

Receptive

• Understands opposites, like go–stop, big–little, and up–down.
• Follows 2-part directions, like “Get the spoon and put it on the table.”
• Understands new words quickly.

Expressive

• Has a word for almost everything.
• Talks about things that are not in the room.
• Uses k, g, f, t, d, and n in words.
• Uses words like in, on, and under.
• Uses two- or three- words to talk about and ask for things.
• People who know your child can understand him.
• Asks “Why?”
• Puts 3 words together to talk about things. May repeat some words and sounds.

Receptive

• • Responds when you call from another room.
  • Understands words for some colors, like red, blue, and green.
  • Understands words for some shapes, like circle and square.
  • Understands words for family, like brother, grandmother, aunt.

Expressive

• Answers simple who, what, and where questions.
• Says rhyming words, like hat–cat.
• Uses pronouns, like I, you, me, we, and they.
• Uses some plural words, like toys, birds, and buses.
• Most people understand what your child says.
• Asks when and how questions.
• Puts 4 words together. May make some mistakes, like “I goed to school.”
• Talks about what happened during the day. Uses about 4 sentences at a time.

Receptive

• Understands words for order, like first, next, and last.
• Understands words for time, like yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
• Follows longer directions, like “Put your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and then pick out a book.”
• Follows classroom directions, like “Draw a circle on your paper around something you eat.”
• Hears and understands most of what she hears at home and in school.

Expressive

• Says all speech sounds in words. May make mistakes on sounds that are harder to say, like l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, and th.
• Responds to “What did you say?”
• Talks without repeating sounds or words most of the time.
• Names letters and numbers.
• Uses sentences that have more than 1 action word, likejump, play, and get. May make some mistakes, like “Zach gots 2 video games, but I got one.”
• Tells a short story.
• Keeps a conversation going.
• Talks in different ways, depending on the listener and place. Your child may use short sentences with younger children. He may talk louder outside than inside.