When to be concerned - Early speech and language development

3-6 months: No cooing, no smiling, poor eye contact

6-12 months: No babbling (da da, ma ma), poor eye contact, not turning to sounds

12-18 months: No words, no gestures eg. pointing/ reaching, no imitation/copying, poor eye contact, does not have functional play eg. pushes cars and makes "broom broom" sounds

18mths-2years: No pretend/ representational play, less than 10 words at 18 months, less than 50 words at 2 years, any odd behavours such as lining up toys/ spinning toys rather than using appropriately

2- 3 years: Has limited vocabulary and is not putting words together into 2-3 word phrases, has limited pretend play or prefers to stack or pack/unpack toys, may have words but does not use language to comment on whats happening or to request what they want.

3-4 years: Does not speak in sentences or sentences are ususual/difficult to understand, puts words together but sentences lack grammatical structures such as verb endings "ing", "ed", and auxilliaries "is/are-doing", has a poor vocabulary

4-5 years: Is not able to relate experiences and stories with intelligible speech and language, has poor vocabulary or trouble finding the right words to say, has trouble socialising with peers, has behavioural difficulties related to difficulty communicating or understanding instructions

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