Ages and Stages: Watch Your Child’s Speech and Language Grow
By 24 months most children will:
- Follow two-step directions – “Go find your teddy bear and show it to Grandma”
- Use 100 to 150 words
- Use at least two pronouns – “you”, “me”, “mine”
- Consistently combine two to four words in short phrases – “daddy hat”, “truck go down.”
- Enjoy being with other children
- Begin to offer toys to peers and imitates other children’s actions and words
- Be understood by others 50 to 60 percent of the time
- Form words and sounds easily and effortlessly
- Hold books the right way up and turns pages
- “Read” to stuffed animals or toys
- Scribble with crayons
What you can do to help:
- Talk to your child simply, clearly and slowly
- Take the time to listen to your child, as he/she wants you to hear all of his/her new sounds, words and ideas
- Expand what your child says – e.g. if he says “dog”, you could say “dog runs” or “big dog”
- Sing simple songs with actions, such as “Itsy Bitsy Spider”
- Talk about what you are doing during everyday routines using 3 to 4 word phrases such as “turn the water on” or “daddy eats bread”
- When sorting laundry with your child, use pronouns such as “that’s my shirt”, “these are your socks”
- Look at photo albums and picture books together, taking turns describing the pictures. Use action words (e.g. “swimming, running”) and descriptive words such as “hot, clean, dirty, old”
If you think your child is not meeting the developmental milestones as expected don’t ‘wait and see’. Contact Us (link to KidsAbility/Services/Waterloo Preschool Speech and Language/About Us/Contact Us) to make a referral for a speech and language assessment.
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