Communication Milestones for 2-year-olds
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2-year-olds, those wonderful, sometimes mischievous toddlers are so much fun but often oh so much work! By now, your little one has well and truly found their voice and is using words and gestures to let you know exactly what they think. They are exerting their independence and may become easily frustrated with their own limitations. Let's take a look at what we can expect from our two-year-olds and dive into the world of ‘normal’ development.
This checklist will put your mind at rest and help you recognise when that special small person in your life may need some extra support from a speech pathologist.
We will consider typical milestones across the following elements of communication:
Speech: the sounds your child is making and how they are putting them together to make words
Vocabulary: the words your child understands and uses, and how they store them
Receptive Language or Comprehension: how your child understands and responds to language
Expressive Language: the way your child expresses themselves through words and sentences. It includes how they use language and gestures to think and convey their thoughts, feelings and ideas.
Phonological Awareness: how they understand and interpret sounds which leads to literacy
Play and Cognitive Skills: which provide communication opportunities and help your child to develop language for thinking, reasoning and problem-solving
By 2-years, your child should be:
Speech:
Using a lot of consonant sounds including m,n,p,b,k,g,h,w,t,d
Making a full range of vowels
Attempting to say longer words
Speech may be hard for unfamiliar listeners to understand as they make some normal developmental error patterns, e.g. dropping the last sound off a word, shortening words by dropping a syllable, changing a sound, so it is similar to another sound in the word - ‘cat’ -> ‘tat’
Vocabulary
Saying 50+ different words
Sorting objects into categories, e.g. putting blocks with other blocks
Uses social words such as ‘bye’, ‘please’, ‘thank you.’
Receptive Language
Following 2-step instructions, e.g. ‘get your nappy and bring it to me’, ‘give me the ball and the car.’
Understanding action words
Pointing to four action words in pictures, e.g. Which one is jumping?
Pointing to people and objects in pictures when they are named, e.g. Where’s___?
Pointing to several body parts
Understanding the difference between ‘in’ and ‘on’, ‘one’ and ‘many.’
Understanding the concept of size, e.g. big, little
Understanding ‘another’
Expressive Language
Combining 2 or more words together to make a short phrase, e.g. ‘mummy go’, ‘bye teddy’, ‘no drink.’
Using their own name when talking about themselves
Using their tone of voice to ask a question
Saying ‘no’
Using pronouns like ‘mine’, ‘my’ and ‘you’
Adding ‘ing’ to the end of verbs, e.g. ‘crying.’
Using location words such as up, down, in, on, under
Phonological Awareness
Becoming aware of the concept of ‘reading’ and ‘writing.’
Pretending to write
Pretends to read books
Recognises specific books by their covers
Listens to stories for longer periods
Holds a book correctly
Play and Cognitive Skills
Using two toys together in pretend play
Imitating housework, e.g. vacuuming
Matching sounds to pictures of animals
Pretending to talk on the phone
Stacking and assembling toys
Confidently using sounds or words to take a turn in a ‘conversation’
Talking to themselves when playing
If you are concerned that your child is not meeting these early communication milestones, it is the right time to see a speech pathologist. It is always best to seek help early and never take a ‘wait and see’ approach.
A speech pathologist will be able to assess your child’s communication skills and give you advice and strategies to encourage your child’s development.
At Newcastle Speech Pathology, we are passionate about helping children develop their communication skills and supporting their families because clear communication unlocks opportunities. Contact us to see how we can help you and your child.
Want to know what a 12-18 month-old should be doing? Check out our previous blog: Is my 12-18 month old normal?
Find out what is in store for your child: