In our past articles, we covered important language milestones from 0-12 months and 12-24 months. The first several years of a child’s life are a time of rapid language learning, and the ages of 24-36 months are no exception!
To illustrate this point, look no further than the explosion of vocabulary that happens during this developmental stage. The vocabulary of a typically developing child at 24 months is usually 200-300 words. That number jumps to approximately 450 words by 30 months and 1,000 words by 36 months.
As you can imagine, the expectations on a child also increases. Kids at this age commonly use these words to communicate what they want and feel, and are also able to follow more complex directions. They’re able to sit and participate in more challenging activities and interact with their peers to start building social relationships.
Let’s dive in further and discuss what you should anticipate in this crucial stage of development.
Receptive language skills for 2-3 year olds
Receptive language refers to how we attend to, process, and understand language. It is one of the most important building blocks of a child’s social and academic development. Between the ages of 2-3, you should notice the following:
- Answering WH-questions. Your child should begin to understand and respond to questions that begin with who, what, when, where, and why. Examples include: “What’s that?” “Who is _?” or “Where is_?” They should also be able to point to objects when described, such as “What do you wear on your feet?”
- Pointing to body parts when named verbally
- Carrying out two-step related directions, such as “Please go to the table and bring me the cup.” They should also begin to complete two-step directions that are unrelated, such as “Throw the ball and clap your hands.”
- Pointing to at least 15 pictures of objects when named
- Understanding directional concepts, such as under, in, on, in front of, behind
- Starting to understand differences in sizes, such as big, large, small, little
- Comprehending “yours” and “mine,” as well as turn taking “my turn” and “your turn”
- Understanding verbs and identifying them in pictures, such as jump, run, throw
- Recognizing family labels, such as dad, mom, brother, sister, baby, or grandma
- Listening and attending to books and stories for longer periods of time, as well as pointing to objects of interest while listening to the reader
Expressive language skills for 2-3 year olds
Expressive language refers to how we use sounds and words to communicate our wants and needs. At 24 months, we anticipate a child is using mostly words to express themselves. Between the ages of 2-3, you should notice the following:
- Uses 2-3 word sentences around 24 months, which increases to 3-4 word sentences by 36 months
- Engages in short conversations
- Begins using pronouns, such as I, my, mine, you, your/s, she, he, and we
- Starts to use WH-questions, such as “Where is-,” and “What is-doing?”
- Uses prepositions, such as in, on, off, down, up
- Begins to communicate their feelings and emotions verbally rather than physically
- Increases their use of grammatical morphemes, such as plurals (socks), present progressive tense (crying), and possessives (baby’s bottle)
- Uses at least 50 words when speaking spontaneously and independently
- Names family members and peers
- Begins to play and experiment with their voice, such as whispering
- Initiates singing their favorite songs
Other important milestones to monitor
Beyond speech and language, there are many other important developmental skills that are generally acquired during this stage.
For example, it’s common to see an increase in the development of a child’s play skills. Their play-based activities become more complex as they begin to participate in pretend play and increasingly use toys for their intended purpose. You might catch your toddler playing house, talking on a pretend telephone, or holding a conversation between themselves and their dolls. They should also be able to do more complex activities, such as completing puzzles, or engaging in sensory play, such as Play Doh or kinetic sand.
Toddlers are just learning how to communicate using language with their peers and family, and engaging your child in simple pretend play enables them to expand these foundational language and social skills. The joint attention that occurs when sharing an experience, such playing kitchen, also helps with skills like the ability to pay attention which is crucial in an academic setting. You can learn more about the importance of play for young children here:
Additionally, at this age children should also be exploring most foods and textures. Kids should be independently feeding themselves with a fork or spoon as well as using their pincer grasp (the ability to hold something between the thumb and first finger). They should begin to drink from an open cup or a straw and have eliminated the use of bottles and the pacifier. While they may have a strong preference for chicken nuggets and fries, they also will attempt new foods that are introduced and, after a few attempts, may accept those new foods into their diet.
Acquiring speech sounds for 2-3 year olds
While all children are different, here’s a general rule of thumb: By the age of 24 months, you should be able to understand about 50% of a child’s speech. That number should increase to about 75% by the time they reach their third birthday.
You should also begin to note the acquisition of various speech sounds during this time. Between the ages of 2-3, we expect a child to have mastered /p/, /m/, /h/, /n/, /w/, and /b/ sounds, and be close to mastering their /k/, /g/, /d/, /t/ and /ng/ sounds. They should also have started using and acquiring the sounds /f/ and /y/.
By the time children are 3 years old, they shouldn’t be saying “nana” when requesting a “banana.” Nor should they be omitting the last consonant of a word, such as “ca” for “cat.” During this year of development, they should also be stating “bottle” instead of reduplicating a syllable, such as “baba.”
Causes for concern - when professional help may be needed
As mentioned previously, sometimes children need extra help to develop their speech and language. Language skills built atop each other over time, much like a ladder. And when children don’t reach important communication milestones early on, they’re often at risk of falling behind. The earlier you can intervene, the more likely they are to reach their communication goals. Here’s some things to look for:
- At 24 months, monitor whether your child’s language seems limited and they’re using less than 50 words. It’s also important that they begin to combine their words into two-word phrases. Pay close attention to whether their language is largely unintelligible or they seem to be regressing in their development.
- At 36 months, check whether your child’s language is limited to single syllable words with no final constants, or if they use few or no multi-word phrases, are not able to ask common WH-questions, or their speech seems unintelligible. Another cause for concern is if your child has frequent tantrums due to their inability to be understood, or if they have echolalia (parroting of speech without communicative intent).
If you do feel your child is not meeting age-appropriate milestones or doesn’t seem to be speaking as much as their peers, don’t panic! What’s important is that you seek out the advice of a professional, such as your pediatrician and a qualified speech language pathologist.
Since the ages of 2-3 are such critical learning years, it’s important to provide kids with the support they need in order to express themselves and to fully communicate their wants and needs.
While it may be tempting to take the “wait and see” approach, research indicates that early intervention benefits kids both socially and academically as they grow older. By addressing these speech or language delays early, it can significantly reduce frustration for you and your child, and allow them to better learn and participate in the world around them.