Receptive Language
- Comprehends approximately 300 words
- Comprehends simple questions
- Follows simple two-step commands
- Listens and points to pictures
- Listens to simple stories – especially likes ones heard before
- Points to five body parts on self or doll
- Responds approximately to yes/no questions (head shake)
- Object permanence fully acquired (knows something is there even when they cannot see it)
- Discriminates food from other objects (unwraps candy before eating it)
- Imitates only events that are present to the senses, not those from past experiences
Expressive Language
- Uses approximately 50 recognizable words
- Uses simple phrases (i.e. "more juice")
- Uses names of most familiar objects
- Produces animal sounds or uses its name
- Verbalizes toilet needs – may verbalize before, during or after act (closer to 2 years)
- Identifies and names five or more pictures
- Says own name on request – refers to self with full name
- Verbalizes “no”
- Verbalizes immediate experiences
- Combines 2 words into phrases (~2 years) in noun Verb or noun+adjective form
Articulation/Verbal Output
- Words increase in frequency, jargon almost gone by 2 years
- Asks questions by raising intonation at end of phrase
- Able to produce all vowels
- Improvement in intelligibility – approximately 65% intelligible
- Appearance of words produced with consonant – vowel – consonant structure (hot)
Pragmatic/Social Language
- Names objects in front of others
- Says “what’s that” to elicit attention
- Begins to express commands, indicate possession and express problems
- Much verbal turn-taking
- Imitates others, especially adults and older children
- Shows more and more independence
- Shows defiance, such as doing what he/she was told not to do
Play Skills
- Parallel play begins - Plays briefly beside other children, and gets excited when with other children -but not with them
- Talks to self as he/she plays
- Begins pretend play
- Little social give-and-take – little interest in what others say or do buy hugs, pushes, pulls, snatches, grabs, defends rights by pulling hair or kicking
- Does not ask for help; likes rapid shifts of attention
- Transports blocks in a wagon rather that just building
- Relates action to object or another person – washes, feeds combs doll in addition to self
- Begins to play with other children, as in chasing one another
Oral Motor
- Able to feed self using a spoon by scooping
- Eats tougher solids
Grammar
- Begins to use some verbs and adjectives
- Follows directions using one or two spatial concepts (in/on)
- Negation used in form of “no” (no bed)
- Possessive emerging (daddy car)
- Refers to self with pronoun and name (me Tommy)
- 33% utterances are nouns
Literacy
- Names familiar pictures (nouns)
- Pretend to read by making up stories and turning the pages
- Points to pictures in a book
- Listen to 2-4 minute stories
- Recites words to favorite books
- Recognize covers of favorite books