Your toddler is learning and saying so many new words every day. But just how many words should they be saying at their age?
The answer to this question can be an important thing to know in order to gauge your child’s language development. We discussed in a previous post that babies typically say their first words between 10 to 14 months. Other typical milestones for babies’ language development:
• By a year old, your toddler should be saying around 2-6 words;
• At 15 months, your toddler should be saying around 10 words;
• At 18 months, your toddler should be saying around 50 words. At this age, they will begin naming familiar objects. After 18 months, word acquisition increases dramatically. There may be a “word spurt” after a child has a vocabulary of 50 words. Some children then learn new words at a very rapid pace;
• At 24 months, your toddler should be saying between 200-300 words. Your child should also be referring to themselves by name and putting two words together. This could be their name and a request, or your name and a request, or a question, like “mama car?”;
• At 30 months, your toddler should be saying around 450 words; And
• At around 36 months (3 years), your toddler will have another “big jump” in vocabulary development and should be saying around 1,000 words.
As your child continues to grow, the expectations for their vocabulary growth increases.
Here are some of the typical milestones you will see with your child in vocabulary when they are older than 3 years old:
• At 42 months, your child will say around 1,200 words.
• At 48 months (4 years), your child will say around 1,600 words.
• At 54 months, your child will say around 1,900 words
• At 60 months (5 years), your child will say around 2,200-2,500 words.
• At 6 years your child will say around 2,600-7,000 words.
• And lastly at 12 years, your child will say around 50,000 words.
It’s amazing how many words your child is actually saying! Vocabulary milestones can be a good indicator of your child’s development. It can let you know if your child is where they need to be in their language development or if maybe getting some strategies and support from a speech-language pathologist might help. For instance, if your child is 18 months old, and is saying 50 or more words, they seem to be doing well with language as far as vocabulary development. However, on the other hand, if your child is 18 months old and only has a few words. It might be a good indicator that your child might need some support.
For more ideas or questions, contact Marissa Doletzky at Rockford Speech Therapy.
Marissa Doletzky
616-951-1077