The signs of speech delay appear long before children are using real speech. Although a child may not begin forming phrases until he is two years old, babies prepare to talk from their first months of life, and parents can track their children's speech development from as young as three or four months. If your child seems to be showing symptoms of delayed speech, call your pediatrician or a speech pathologist.
Birth to Six Months
During their first months of life, babies make a variety of unformed sounds and respond and react to the sounds they hear. They turn their heads toward noise, attempt to repeat the sounds they hear you make and use vocalization to get your attention and express their needs. If your baby doesn't respond to your voice, enjoy imitating conversation by trading sounds with you or seem to recognize sounds, these may be signs of a problem. Have your doctor check her hearing, or arrange a consultation with a speech pathologist.
Seven to Twelve Months
By the time a baby is a year old, he should use at least a few real words, recognize and react to the sound of his name, incorporate consonants into his babbling and use sound to communicate with you. He should begin repeating syllables, like "baba," "dada" or "mama" by about nine months of age -- although probably he is not attaching meaning to the sounds yet. According to Amy Nelson of KidsHealth, if he does not begin recognizing words by 12 months or seems not to respond to noises, he may have hearing problems.
Thirteen to Eighteen Months
According to Nelson, the average baby knows and uses 20 different words by the time she reaches 18 months. However, all babies develop at different rates, and BabyCenter suggests that you should not be alarmed unless your baby cannot use at least six words by 18 months. Nelson advises that an 18-month-old baby should want to communicate vocally rather than by gesture and should understand simple commands from you. If your baby does not respond to basic verbal communication by 18 months, talk to your pediatrician.
Nineteen to Twenty-Four Months
A two-year-old child is leaving babyhood and entering his toddler phase. At this point, he should know and use his own name, rapidly acquire new vocabulary words, add "s" to words to indicate the plural and begin stringing words together into short phrases. If your 24-month-old child only talks to repeat what you say, does not use two words together or does not seem to be gaining new vocabulary, schedule an appointment with a speech pathologist.
