Healthy Speech & Language Development

In general though, at age 2½ a child…

• Uses about 450 words (mostly labels/nouns and verbs)
• Gives his/her first name
• Uses past tense
• Uses plurals
• Combines nouns and verbs
• Understands simple time concepts such as “last night” and “tomorrow”
• Refers to himself/herself as “me” rather than by name
• Tries to get adult attention verbally (e.g.,  “Watch me!”)
• Likes to hear the same story repeated
• Use “no” or “not” in speech and may say “no” when he/she means “yes”
• Talks to other children as well as adults
• Begins to express his/her behavior verbally, rather than just physically (e.g., says “I’m tired,” instead of just acting cranky)
• Answers “where” questions (e.g., “Where is the doll?”)
• Names objects he/she comes into contact with regularly
• Uses short sentences to announce what he/she has done or will like (e.g., “Me do it,” or “Me want to jump”)
• Matches three to four colors
• Holds up fingers to tell age

Milestones obtained from Pro-Ed, 2^nd edition

Try some of these other strategies:

• When your daughter asks for something like cereal, pretend to forget to give her something important, e.g., a spoon. By not providing everything at once, your daughter is motivated to ask for the missing object.
• Be goofy and mix things up to see if your daughter can call you out on your humor. For example, zip up a jacket backwards or place socks over her hands and wait for her to notice.
• Sit in front of her when singing or playing so that she can see your face as you talk. This allows her to watch your facial movements and connect them with the sounds of the words you are speaking.
• Expose your child to many new experiences and talk about them before, during and after the event.
• Sort toys by category into boxes so that when cleaning up, you and your child can take turns naming (and sorting) things into categories.
• Allow your child to use new words by letting her finish your sentence during different activities. For example, in the car, you can say, “Buckle your… ”

Keep the following tips in mind:

• Focus on the content of your daughter’s message, and don’t worry about how she is saying it. Mistakes are okay at this age and are part of the developmental process.
• Get down to her eye level to talk about things that interest her, and let her lead the conversation.
• Label objects and actions that you encounter. Talk about what you are doing, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Use activities such as feeding, dressing, walking, driving and going to the store, doctor, zoo or park as opportunities to model language.
• Highlight words that your child leaves out by repeating the sentence and saying the omitted word with more emphasis.  For example, if your child says, “Eat cookie,” you can say, “Eat the cookie.”
• Use a lot of repetition when talking and playing with your child. Children benefit from being exposed to the same information multiple times.
• Avoid “wh-” questions. Instead of asking, “What did you draw?” say, “Tell me about your picture.”
• Allow plenty of time for your child to respond before repeating a question or giving a cue.

The speech-language pathologist may do some of the following:

• Administer standardized tests of receptive and expressive language
• Analyze how a child uses language in various situations
• Determine factors that may be slowing down language development
• Counsel parents on the next steps

After completing the evaluation, the speech-language pathologist may do one or more of the following:

• Give suggestions for stimulating language development
• Ask that the parent and child return if they continue to be concerned or find that the child is still not progressing after a few months
• In some cases, the speech-language pathologist may recommend that the child and parents become involved in an early intervention program and receive speech-language therapy

Adapted from the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association