Communication
Milestones

​A child's speech should be understood​: 

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• Age 2.5: 50% of the time by family

• Age 3: 75% of the time by family 

• Age 4: 100% of the time by both family and less familiar listeners

• Age 7: Adult-standard speech; no speech sounds are misarticulated  

Speech characteristics associated with "typical disfluency:"

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• Whole-word and phrase repetitions 

• Interjections (um, like)

• Revisions (Yesterday I, no wait today...)

• More disfluencies observed in times of language explosions (when vocabulary is quickly expanding)

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Speech Characteristics associated with "stuttering:"

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• Sound or syllable repetitions (b-b-b-b-ball)

• Prolongations (sssss-ee = see)

• Blocks (inaudible pause while speaking)

• Moments of stuttering associated with physical tension or struggle

• Secondary behaviors (eye blinks, facial grimaces)

• Negative reaction or frustration

• Avoidance behaviors (situational avoidances)

• Family history of stuttering

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Vocabulary Size: 

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• 1 year = 1-10 words

• 1.5 years = 50-200 words

• 2 years = 200-500 words 

• 3 years = 1,000 words 

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Utterance Length: 

• 1 year: Communicates with single words ("more," "ball")

• 2 years: Combines two words to communicate ("go ball") 

• 3 years: Combines three words to communicate ("I want bubbles") 

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Important pre-verbal skills before words emerge: 

• Shared attention

• Turn taking 

• Gestural communication

• Receptive give/get commands

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