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Milestones

Milestones refer to key developmental stages that mark a child's progress in speech, language and communication skills. These milestones indicate typical age rangers when children are expected to achieve certain abilities. These help with tracking child's development. 

At 1 years old, most children can...

  • Smile when sees you

  • Moves eyes in direction of sounds

  • Responds to changes in tone of your voice

  • Responds to their name

  • Pays attention to music

  • Enjoys games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake

  • Listens when spoken to

  • Recognizes words for common items (cup, book, shoe, spoon)

  • Begins to respond to requests (want more?)

  • Responds to ‘no’, ‘wait’ and ‘stop’

  • May point to objects or people​

Baby Playing with Abacus
Kid Playing with Wooden Toys

At 2 years old, most children can:

  • Points to simple body parts when asked (nose, mouth)

  • Follows simple commands and understands simple questions (roll the ball, kiss the baby)

  • Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes

  • Points to pictures in a book, when named

  • Understands simple prepositions (on/off, in/out, up/down)

  • Understands simple ‘what’ questions (what’s this?)

  • Understands yes/no

  • Shows interest in reading

Preschool

At 3 years old, most children can:

  • Follow two step related instructions e.g.  "get your socks and put your shoes on"

  • Understand prepositions (top/bottom, under/over)

  • Understand quantity concepts (empty/full)

  • Understand basic concepts (hard/soft, big/little, same/different)

  • Point to body parts (simple- eyes, complex- eyebrows)

  • Knows function of body parts and objects

  • Understands ‘who’, ‘where’ and ‘what’ questions (what’s the dog doing?)

  • Understands negatives (no shoes, not running)

  • Recognises simple colours (red, blue, green)

  • Name actions from pictures (running, jumping)

  • Understand gender (boy/girl)​​

Small Child with Large Glasses

At 4 years old, most children can:

  • Understand prepositions (front/back, next to)

  • Understand concepts (long/tall/short)

  • Understand quantity concepts (most/many)

  • Understand sequence concepts (first/last)

  • Understands ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions

  • Recognises colours and shapes

  • Follow 3 step instructions (pick up your shoes, put them on and walk to the door)

  • Sort pictures/objects into categories

Happy Twins

At 5 years old, most children can:

  • Understand sequence concepts (first/second/third/last, beginning/middle/end)

  • Recognise items that don’t belong in categories

  • Understand ‘when’ questions

  • Start to understand time concepts (day/night, morning, afternoon, night)

  • Understand opposites and comparatives (big/biggest, wet/dry)

  • Follow three part instructions, including time words (get your shoes before you get your hat)

  • Understand numbers, letters and shapes

Child smiling at school

If you have concerns about your child’s developement...let's chat.

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