When should you seek help? 

We strongly recommend that you seek help from a speech-language professional if your child:

By 12 months

  • doesn’t babble with changes in tone – e.g. dadadadadadadadada
  • doesn’t use gestures like waving “bye bye” or shaking head for “no”
  • doesn’t respond to her/his name
  • doesn’t communicate in some way when s/he needs help with something

By 15 months

  • doesn't understand and respond to words like "no" and "up"
  • says no words
  • doesn't point to objects or pictures when asked “Where’s the...?
  • doesn’t point to things of interest as if to say “Look at that!”  and then look right at you

By 18 months

  • doesn’t understand simple commands like "Don't touch"
  • isn’t using at least 20 single words like "Mommy" or "up"
  • doesn’t respond with a word or gesture to a question such as “What’s that? or “Where’s your shoe?”
  • can’t point to two or three major body parts such as head, nose, eyes, feet

By 24 months

  • says fewer than 100 words
  • isn’t consistently joining two words together like "Daddy go" or “ shoes on”
  • doesn’t imitate actions or words
  • doesn’t pretend with toys, such as feeding doll or making toy man drive toy car

By 30 months 
  • says fewer than 300 words
  • isn’t using action words like “run”, “eat”, “fall”
  • isn’t using some adult grammar, such as “two babies” and “doggie sleeping

3-4 years 
  • doesn’t ask questions by 3 years
  • isn’t using sentences (e.g., "I don't want that" or "My truck is broken")  by three years
  • isn’t able to tell a simple story by four or five years 

 

If you’ve noticed one or more of these warning signs in your child, it’s important that you take action right away to ensure that he receives the help he needs.

Click here to find out what you can do.

 

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