When do babies say first sentence

When do babies start talking? First words, sentences, and more

Babies typically say their first words between 7–12 months of age. But all babies develop at different speeds. Many start talking later than average, and this is rarely a cause for concern.

Below, we explore when babies start talking, how they learn a language, and what could cause delays.

Babies reach language milestones at different rates, and this is completely normal.

On average, they say their first words between 7–12 months of age and are constructing coherent sentences by 2–3 years of age.

Language develops alongside other skills, such as those relating to movement. As a result, many babies say their first words close to when they start walking — at about 12 months.

Learning a verbal language is a complex process. It helps a baby express their needs and can provide crucial insight about the rest of the world.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) offer the following approximate timeline of language development:

0–3 months: Babies recognize parental voices and make sounds that express their feelings.
4–6 months: They respond to changes in tone, follow sounds with their eyes, and babble.
7 months to 1 year: They understand basic words, respond to simple requests, and use their hands to communicate. Toward the end of this period, they may use a few words.
1–2 years: Babies understand basic questions, follow stories, and regularly pick up new words. They may also start to put words together to ask questions or express needs.
2–3 years: Toddlers start to string phrases together and speak coherently. They can usually refer to most things around them.
3–4 years: They can describe activities, use more complex sentences, and speak more fluently.
4–5 years: They use detailed sentences, tell stories, and can communicate easily with others.

A person can help encourage the development of language. If a baby is reaching these milestones more slowly, they may benefit from additional support from parents and other caregivers or a speech professional.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recommend the following ways to help babies and toddlers at different stages:

Birth to 2 years

To help with the development of language skills:

Respond when the baby laughs and makes faces or sounds.
Use sounds like “ma” and “da.”
Speak to them.
Narrate the world around them, such as by counting or describing the colors of objects.
Read to the baby.
Use gestures, such as pointing.

2–4 years

A person should:

Speak clearly, with good grammar, to the toddler.
Repeat what they say back to them.
Extend their words into sentences.
Help them ask questions.
Ask them to choose from a few options, such as by asking what they would like for dinner.
Sing songs and nursery rhymes.
Present pictures or objects and ask questions about them.

4–6 years

With a child in this age range, a person should:

Praise their speech.
Work on locations, such as by asking them to “Pick up the toy in the middle.”
Describe objects and ask the child to identify them.
Describe categories, such as barnyard animals, and ask the child for examples.
Ask them to give directions or describe where something is.
Take them along on daily activities and discuss these.
Also, discuss the stages or stories of a game, book, or TV show.

A variety of factors can influence the development of language. In many cases, exercising patience and taking additional steps to support speech development is all that is needed.

In some children, delays in language indicate speech disorders. However, these are relatively uncommon.

In the United States, around 5% of children and teens aged 3–17 years have had a speech disorder lasting at least 1 week in the past 12 months. In the same time frame, 3% of kids in this age range have had a language disorder lasting at least a week.

Meanwhile, having a hearing disorder may affect the development of language. In the U.S., 2–3 in every 1,000 children experience hearing problems from birth.

Some signs of a speech, language, or hearing disorder in babies and young children include:

0–3 months: The baby may not smile or interact.
4–7 months: They may not babble.
7–12 months: They rarely make sounds and use no gestures.
7 months to 2 years: A baby or toddler may say few words and have trouble understanding others.
2–3 years: They may say fewer than 50 words and rarely communicate or play with other children.
2.5–3 years: They may have difficulty with the beginning stages of reading and writing.

All babies develop differently — some pick up language right away, while others do not. Some babies start speaking early but take longer than expected to use coherent sentences.

In most cases, delays in language development do not indicate a disorder. But some babies and young children need additional support and activities that encourage speech.

Less often, a speech, language, or hearing disorder is involved, and the signs may be present from an early age. It is important to bring these up with a healthcare professional.

It is also important to attend all recommended pediatrician appointments, and the doctor should discuss the child’s development at each. Use the opportunity to ask questions and raise any concerns.

Health experts offer rough timelines about when babies, on average, reach milestones such as using their first words. However, all babies develop language at different rates.

Relatively rarely, a disorder is responsible for delayed language development. If a child shows any signs of a speech, language, or hearing disorder, contact a healthcare provider.

First Words, Gestures, and More

Language Milestones 1 to 2 Years: First Words, Gestures, and More

By Dr. Anna Kaplan on June 12, 2018

Language milestones are successes that mark various stages of language development. They are both receptive (hearing and understanding) and expressive (speech). This means that in addition to being able to make sounds and words, your baby also needs to be able to hear and understand.

Most children speak their first word between 10 to 14 months of age.

By the time your baby is a year old, he or she is probably saying between one to three words. They will be simple, and not complete words, but you will know what they mean. They may say “ma-ma,” or “da-da,” or try a name for a sibling, pet, or toy. If they aren’t doing this at 12 months, you should not be worried, as long as they are producing lots of sounds, seem like they are trying to speak, and seem to understand you. They should be using gestures, responding to their name, and stopping activity when they hear “no.” They probably enjoy playing peek-a-boo.

While nothing quite matches the thrill of hearing the first word, or seeing the first step, the language development during this year can be a lot of fun. There are lots of games to be played as your baby learns words. You also will increasingly be able to understand your child, and this makes many things easier; they will also understand you better. Children are very proud of what they are learning during this time and enjoy announcing new words. Talking to your child often and reading to them starting no later than 6 months will go a long way towards helping with language development.

The first word – If your child hasn’t already spoken their first word, they will soon. Most children speak their first word between 10 to 14 months of age. More true words will follow the first one.
Gestures – Your child may use a lot of gestures with words to try and get the meaning across to you. As time goes on, there will be more words than gestures.
Parts of the body – By around 15 months, your child will be able to point to some parts of the body when you name them.
Naming familiar objects – They will begin to be able to name some familiar objects between 12 and 18 months.
Listening – During this time, they will enjoy being read to and listening to songs and rhymes. They will begin to be able to name familiar objects that you point to in a book.
Vocabulary – By 18 months of age, most children have at least ten words. After 18 months, word acquisition increases dramatically. There may be a “word spurt” after a child has a vocabulary of 50 words. Some children then learn new words at a very rapid pace. Your child will be able to use and understand many words by 24 months of age.
Name – By 24 months, your child should be referring to themselves by name.
Directions – Your child will understand and follow simple directions between 12 and 15 months of age. By the age of two, they should be able to understand more complicated sentences.
Two word “sentences” – By 24 months, they will also be putting two words together. This could be their name and a request, or your name and a request, or a question, like “mama car?”

Children master different language skills at different ages.

Words will still not be perfect. Your child will start using some of the harder consonants, first the d, n, and t, which are produced between the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

That will be followed by g, k, and ng, which are made farther back inside the mouth.

During this year, your child will use more consonants, although they may be mixed up, and they may drop the syllables at the end of words.

Understanding simple words – You should be concerned if your child does not understand the words no, bye-bye, and bottle (if appropriate) by the age 15 months.
Vocabulary – Your child should use single words by 15 to 16 months of age at the latest. They should have a 10-word vocabulary by 18 months of age.
Following directions – They should be able to follow simple directions by the time they are 21 months old. An example would be “Come here.”
Excessive jargon or babbling – A two year old should not be mainly babbling. They should be using more real words.
Body parts – At two, your child should be able to point to a number of body parts.
Two word phrases – A two-year-old should be putting two words together.

You will still have many visits to the pediatrician during this year. The doctor will still be evaluating your child’s development, including language development. You should share any concerns you have.

It is still important to remember that every child is different and may master different language skills at different ages. You should be looking for evidence of increasing mastery of language and growth of vocabulary. Your child should be increasingly able to understand you. This should be easy for you to recognize as you read to and play with them.

Parenthood
Toddler

How we reviewed this article:

Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

Current Version

Jun 12, 2018

Written By

Dr. Anna Kaplan

Share this article

By Dr. Anna Kaplan on June 12, 2018

What time do children start talking and how to help them

November 6, 2019LikbezAdvice

If the child is already 15 months old, and the first word has not been heard, this is an alarm signal.

When children start talking

There is no single answer to this question. The thing is that children's speech occurs much earlier than the conscious “mother” or “give” sounds.

The first form of communication is crying. Parents know that it differs depending on what the child wants to convey. For example, a high-pitched scream most likely means that the baby needs food, and a grunting whimper means it's time to change the diaper.

Sounds similar to real words appear at the age of 4-6 months. By this time, the speech apparatus is being improved and the child begins to experiment, opening and closing his mouth, inhaling and exhaling, moving his tongue, changing the shape of his lips. This is how baby babble appears: “a-ba-ba”, “aha” or even “mother”.

But one should not take such first words seriously: this is an accident. The child does not yet associate his "mother", "woman" or "give" with specific people or actions.

If a person claims that his child spoke at 7–9 months, he is either delusional or wishful thinking.

The first meaningful word appears between 11 and 12 months of age. And then the process goes like an avalanche. By the age of one, a child usually knows and pronounces not one, but from 2 to 20 words: “mom”, “dad”, “woman”, “give” and sometimes distorted, but nevertheless understandable “tu-tu” (train) , "boom" (fall) or "am" (eat).

Actually, the year can be considered the very boundary after which confident speech appears. Of course, children are different: someone starts chatting at 11 months, and someone keeps quiet for up to a year with a ponytail (babble does not count). But there is an important time point. If a child does not utter a single conscious word by 15 months, it is imperative to consult a pediatrician. He may have to undergo additional examinations, such as a hearing test or a visit to a neurologist.

How to understand that a child has speech problems

A mother is the most important expert on her own baby. Therefore, if it seems to her that the child has difficulties with the pronunciation of sounds or the reaction to what he hears, this is already enough to talk with the doctor.

But apart from "seems" there are objective signs of speech problems. They differ according to age.

3-4 months: the child does not babble, does not experiment with sounds.
5-6 months: does not react to unexpected sounds, does not turn his head to the call, does not laugh.
8–9 months: does not respond to his own name, babble is rare and monotonous.
12 months: doesn't say a single word, not even "mom", "give" or "na".
13-18 months: does not show simple objects in or around the picture (eg, does not understand the question "Where is the ball?"), does not have at least six words in the vocabulary by the age of 18 months, and does not learn new ones.

Another alarming symptom is the loss of acquired language skills. For example, if by 18 months the child uses the “normative” six words, but you know for sure that just a couple of months ago there were more than 20 of them, tell the pediatrician about such a regression.

How to help a child speak

The best way is to create all conditions for communication. Here are the three most important things every parent should do.

1. Talk

Don't talk non-stop. Just talk to your child when you spend time together.

Name the things you are holding or holding out to your baby: “This is a ball. And this is a machine."
Describe what you are doing: “Now we are putting on our pants. And now, a jacket. And let's go for a walk!"
Explain what is going on around you: “Wow, what a loud car drove!”, “Kar! This is a crow croaking”, “But my mother’s phone is ringing”.
Ask questions: “Do you hear how dad calls us? Run to him!”, “Your bunny is probably tired? Does he want to go to bed?
Sing lullabies.

2. Read aloud

Reading shows the child that there are many different words, teaches how to make sentences, shows how the action develops. This encourages him to tell his own stories, such as how dolls play with each other, why the car was hidden, or why he does not want to eat your soup.

3. Listen

Be grateful for stories: be interested, listen carefully, make eye contact. Make sure that the child wants to talk with you about what is happening around. This will encourage him to use more words and put them into more complex sentences.

Early Childhood Speech Development Calendar

Early childhood is considered a very important period in a child's life.

This is the time of the most rapid and rapid changes in the mental and physical development of the baby, the child takes the first steps, learns to speak, begins to use gestures and other means of communication.

3 weeks - 1 month - there is a cry indicating emotional discomfort, pain or hunger. With physical stress, the child groans, making the sounds "a", "e".

2 - 3 months : the baby has a cooing, he utters simple sounds - " a", "u", "s ", sometimes in combination with " g ". This is an important stage in the development of speech in young children.

4 - 6 months - emits high melodious sounds, sounds of exclamation, reacts with joyful sounds to the faces of loved ones.

6 - 9 months - babbling, he repeats the same syllables (“ma-ma-ma”, “ba-ba-ba”, “dya-dya-dya”, “gu-gu-gu”).

9 - 11 months - the baby begins to imitate the sounds of adult speech.

11 - 14 months - the first meaningful words "mom", "dad", "woman", "uncle" appear, from 8 to 14 words. Correlates a word with an object

By the age of 2 years there are 100-200 words in the baby's vocabulary. He is already building a sentence of 2-3 words.

By the age of 3 the volume of the dictionary increases to 1000 words by enriching the child's life experience. Simple prepositions appear: in, on, under, for, with, at. The child remembers poems, children's songs.

By the end of 3 years , most children are able to construct sentences grammatically correctly, conduct dialogues, tell what they have seen and heard.

Important to know:

Do not listen to advice from other parents whose children began to say after 3 years that the child will speak on his own. He will speak, the only question is what kind of speech it will be, its quality.

How to identify the signs of a speech disorder in a child?

By the end of 1 month the baby does not cry before feeding

By the end of 4 months does not smile when his mother talks to him, does not coo.

By the end of the 5th month does not listen to sounds and music

By the end of the 7th month does not react to the intonation of the voice, does not recognize the mother’s voice with a “revitalization complex” syllables for adults

By the end of 1 year the child does not wave his head to say goodbye in denial. He does not utter a single word and does not follow simple instructions: “give”, “on”, “take”.

By the age of 1.5, does not show or name mom and dad, does not build a tower of blocks, does not differentiate sounding toys, does not use a pointing gesture.

By age 2 does not show body parts, does not show mum and dad in the photo, does not follow the two-step instruction (go to the kitchen and put the plate on the table)

By the age of 2.5, does not distinguish between big and small, does not communicate with children.

By the age of 3, cannot give his first and last name, tell a simple poem and a fairy tale.

If this does not happen, there is a reason to contact specialists.

Possible causes of speech disorders

Viral and endocrine diseases of the mother, threatened miscarriage, trauma, toxicosis, low hemoglobin level.
Genetic anomalies, hereditary predisposition.
Unfavorable childbirth.
Diseases borne by a child in the first years of life
Babies with low Apgar scores at birth

The exact cause of the disorders is determined by the doctor, and the type of speech disorder is determined by the speech therapist.

So what can parents do for successful speech development?

Speech is the highest mental function, so the period of intrauterine development of a child is very important. Parents need to take care of the development of speech even before his birth. It is important that the expectant mother receives only positive emotions i.

Learn more

Be my homer

Short funny story for children

Learn colours with cars

Teaching for child

Learning shapes for kindergarten

A little stories

Recognize letter sample

Learn social skills

When will there be a full moon on my birthday

Letters to learn for preschoolers

How to spell development