While all children develop differently, there are a few milestones in cognitive and language development you should look for in your baby. The first few years of a child's life are marked by rapid growth. Although babies are unable to put together sentences until about the second or third year of life, they can comprehend far more than they are able to say.
0-6 Months
When your baby is first born, she will communicate to you almost entirely through crying. She will cry to express hunger, discomfort or the desire for attention. According to MentalHelp.org, at 2 to 3 months her vocal chords and other parts of her throat will begin to change, allowing her to begin cooing to express pleasure or excitement. According to the National Network for Child Care, by six months she will react to "peek-a-boo" games, turn her head toward bright lights and recognize the sound of your voice. She should also be able to recognize a breast or bottle and respond to your shaking a rattle or bell. MentalHelp.org emphasizes the importance of well-formed senses in infants. Babies learn language by taking in information through their eyes and ears, and then use the environment to process meaning behind those sights and sounds. They use their mouths, lips, tongue and vocal chords to mimic the sounds they hear to begin to communicate themselves. She also needs a well-formed brain to have the ability to mirror what she sees and hears.
6 Months to 1 Year
The NNCC says that during this stage in your baby's language development she will begin to babble. Babbling may sound like talking, but does not include real words or meaning. He might say his first simple word at this stage and understand simple commands. At this age, your baby may be able to touch his nose, mouth, eyes and other body parts when directed. At this point, he will be able to understand much more than he is able to say. HealthyChildren.org says cognitive milestones for this age include exploring objects in different ways by shaking, banging, throwing or dropping. He will imitate gestures and start using objects in the proper way, such as dialing a phone and listening to the receiver.
Second Year
At 18 months, the NNCC says your baby should be able to say around 8 to 10 words that you can understand. It is at this age that they begin to look for objects that are out of sight. They have developed enough cognitively to realize that just because they do not see something, does not mean it has disappeared. They begin to follow simple one-step directions and solve problems by trial and error. For example, trying to put the square block in the round hole and then realizing it goes in the square hole. By your baby's second birthday, she should have a vocabulary of several hundred words and be using two- to three-word sentences. She will begin to verbalize desires such as "I want juice." Two-year-olds also laugh at objects or labels that are misplaced; she will laugh at you, for example, if you wear a bowl on your head for a hat.
Third Year
By 3, the NNCC says your child should be using three- to five-word sentences and begin to ask short questions. He will begin to understand some numbers and usually know what "1" is. He should be able to name at least 10 familiar objects and talk about his mental states. He usually recalls things, like what happened yesterday. It is at this age that children begin to really enjoy being read to, so take advantage of his curiosity. At 3 years old, your child should be able to pay attention for about three minutes. He may also start grouping together objects that belong together, like a fork and a spoon.
Fourth Year and Beyond
According to MentalHelp.org, children experience a language explosion between the ages of 3 and 6. At 3 years old, your child's spoken vocabulary will consist of about 900 words, but by the time she reaches age 6, she will know roughly 8,000 to 14,000 words. It is at this age that her spoken language ability begins to catch up with her comprehension ability. As attention and memory increase, your child will be better at remembering and practicing the language that she hears around her. She also begins to get a better grasp on the rules of the English language, modifying words based on peoples' usage. For example, she will understand that "I went" is correct instead of "I goed," just by hearing it said correctly.
