What would be expected finding when assessing language development in a 2 year old child?

Everything you need to know about your growing 2-year-old.

By the age of 2, your toddler is talking, walking, climbing, jumping, running and bustling with energy. Your child now has a growing vocabulary and acquires new words on a regular basis. She/he can sort shapes and colours and may even show an interest in potty training. As your little one grows more independent, she/he may show signs of defiance as she/he begins to push boundaries and explore the world around her/him.

Social and emotional milestones at 2 years

Some of the ways you’ll see your little one learning to connect with the people around him at 2 years.

  • Likes to copy adults and other children.
  • Gets excited when he’s with other children.
  • He is more independent, even more defiant.

Tips for parents

  • Find opportunities to engage in play and conversations with your toddler. Playtime could be as simple as rolling a ball back and forth, handing you their toys or helping you with safe activities like folding clothes with your supervision. These types of activities can help develop pro-social behaviours by fostering a sense of belonging and collaboration with others.

Language and communication milestones at 2 years

How your toddler is expressing her needs.

  • Says short sentences with two to four words.
  • Points to things when they are named.
  • Knows familiar body parts.
  • Recognizes familiar people.
  • Repeats words she has overheard and follows simple instructions.

Tips for parents

  • When taking her for a walk, tell her the names of things you see.

Brain development milestones at 2 years

Your child’s brain is growing!

  • Starts to sort shapes and colours.
  • Can find things hidden under multiple layers. 
  • Completes sentences in familiar books.
  • Plays simple make-believe games.
  • Builds towers with four or more blocks.
  • Can follow two-step instructions. 
  • May start to develop a dominant hand.

Tips for parents

  • Encourage him to go looking around the room for objects you hide and give him hints. 

Movement and physical development milestones at 2 years

How she’ll move through her environment.

  • Can run, kick a ball and throw a ball overhead.
  • Is starting to run.
  • Climbs up and down from furniture without assistance.
  • Makes or copies straight lines and circles. 

Tips for parents

  • Create little fine-motor skills challenges for your toddler, like asking her to turn the page of a book.

Food and nutrition milestones at 2 years

What mealtimes look like at 2 years. 

  • Chews with full jaw movements.
  • Uses utensils with some spills. 

Tips for parents

  • Be calm and accepting. Give your child positive attention when he does eat, but don’t make it a problem when he doesn’t eat. Just take the food away, cover it, and offer it to him again a bit later. 

Things to look out for

While all children develop differently, you should speak to your paediatrician if your 2-year-old:

  • Doesn’t know how to use common objects.
  • Doesn’t use two-word phrases.
  • Doesn’t copy actions or repeat words.
  • Doesn’t follow basic directions. 
  • Can’t walk steadily. 
  • Loses skills she once had.

True or False?

Explore age groups

How do speech and language develop?

The first 3 years of life, when the brain is developing and maturing, is the most intensive period for acquiring speech and language skills. These skills develop best in a world that is rich with sounds, sights, and consistent exposure to the speech and language of others.

There appear to be critical periods for speech and language development in infants and young children when the brain is best able to absorb language. If these critical periods are allowed to pass without exposure to language, it will be more difficult to learn.

What are the milestones for speech and language development?

The first signs of communication occur when an infant learns that a cry will bring food, comfort, and companionship. Newborns also begin to recognize important sounds in their environment, such as the voice of their mother or primary caretaker. As they grow, babies begin to sort out the speech sounds that compose the words of their language. By 6 months of age, most babies recognize the basic sounds of their native language.

Children vary in their development of speech and language skills. However, they follow a natural progression or timetable for mastering the skills of language. A checklist of milestones for the normal development of speech and language skills in children from birth to 5 years of age is included below. These milestones help doctors and other health professionals determine if a child is on track or if he or she may need extra help. Sometimes a delay may be caused by hearing loss, while other times it may be due to a speech or language disorder.

What is the difference between a speech disorder and a language disorder?

Children who have trouble understanding what others say (receptive language) or difficulty sharing their thoughts (expressive language) may have a language disorder. Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a language disorder that delays the mastery of language skills. Some children with DLD may not begin to talk until their third or fourth year.

Children who have trouble producing speech sounds correctly or who hesitate or stutter when talking may have a speech disorder. Apraxia of speech is a speech disorder that makes it difficult to put sounds and syllables together in the correct order to form words.

What should I do if my child’s speech or language appears to be delayed?

Talk to your child’s doctor if you have any concerns. Your doctor may refer you to a speech-language pathologist, who is a health professional trained to evaluate and treat people with speech or language disorders. The speech-language pathologist will talk to you about your child’s communication and general development. He or she will also use special spoken tests to evaluate your child. A hearing test is often included in the evaluation because a hearing problem can affect speech and language development. Depending on the result of the evaluation, the speech-language pathologist may suggest activities you can do at home to stimulate your child’s development. They might also recommend group or individual therapy or suggest further evaluation by an audiologist (a health care professional trained to identify and measure hearing loss), or a developmental psychologist (a health care professional with special expertise in the psychological development of infants and children).

What research is being conducted on developmental speech and language problems?

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) sponsors a broad range of research to better understand the development of speech and language disorders, improve diagnostic capabilities, and fine-tune more effective treatments. An ongoing area of study is the search for better ways to diagnose and differentiate among the various types of speech delay. A large study following approximately 4,000 children is gathering data as the children grow to establish reliable signs and symptoms for specific speech disorders, which can then be used to develop accurate diagnostic tests. Additional genetic studies are looking for matches between different genetic variations and specific speech deficits.

Researchers sponsored by the NIDCD have discovered one genetic variant, in particular, that is linked to developmental language disorder (DLD), a disorder that delays children’s use of words and slows their mastery of language skills throughout their school years. The finding is the first to tie the presence of a distinct genetic mutation to any kind of inherited language impairment. Further research is exploring the role this genetic variant may also play in dyslexia, autism, and speech-sound disorders.

A long-term study looking at how deafness impacts the brain is exploring how the brain “rewires” itself to accommodate deafness. So far, the research has shown that adults who are deaf react faster and more accurately than hearing adults when they observe objects in motion. This ongoing research continues to explore the concept of “brain plasticity”—the ways in which the brain is influenced by health conditions or life experiences—and how it can be used to develop learning strategies that encourage healthy language and speech development in early childhood.

A recent workshop convened by the NIDCD drew together a group of experts to explore issues related to a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorders who do not have functional verbal language by the age of 5. Because these children are so different from one another, with no set of defining characteristics or patterns of cognitive strengths or weaknesses, development of standard assessment tests or effective treatments has been difficult. The workshop featured a series of presentations to familiarize participants with the challenges facing these children and helped them to identify a number of research gaps and opportunities that could be addressed in future research studies.

What are voice, speech, and language?

Voice, speech, and language are the tools we use to communicate with each other.

Voice is the sound we make as air from our lungs is pushed between vocal folds in our larynx, causing them to vibrate.

Speech is talking, which is one way to express language. It involves the precisely coordinated muscle actions of the tongue, lips, jaw, and vocal tract to produce the recognizable sounds that make up language.

Language is a set of shared rules that allow people to express their ideas in a meaningful way. Language may be expressed verbally or by writing, signing, or making other gestures, such as eye blinking or mouth movements.

Your baby’s hearing and communicative development checklist

Birth to 3 Months

Reacts to loud sounds

YES NO

Calms down or smiles when spoken to

YES NO

Recognizes your voice and calms down if crying

YES NO

When feeding, starts or stops sucking in response to sound

YES NO

Coos and makes pleasure sounds

YES NO

Has a special way of crying for different needs

YES NO

Smiles when he or she sees you

YES NO

4 to 6 Months

Follows sounds with his or her eyes

YES NO

Responds to changes in the tone of your voice

YES NO

Notices toys that make sounds

YES NO

Pays attention to music

YES NO

Babbles in a speech-like way and uses many different sounds, including sounds that begin with p, b, and m

YES NO

Babbles when excited or unhappy

YES NO

Makes gurgling sounds when alone or playing
with you

YES NO

7 Months to 1 Year

Enjoys playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake

YES NO

Turns and looks in the direction of sounds

YES NO

Listens when spoken to

YES NO

Understands words for common items such as “cup,” “shoe,” or “juice”

YES NO

Responds to requests (“Come here”)

YES NO

Babbles using long and short groups of sounds (“tata, upup, bibibi”)

YES NO

Babbles to get and keep attention

YES NO

Communicates using gestures such as waving or holding up arms

YES NO

Imitates different speech sounds

YES NO

Has one or two words (“Hi,” “dog,” “Dada,” or “Mama”) by first birthday

YES NO

1 to 2 Years

Knows a few parts of the body and can point to them when asked

YES NO

Follows simple commands (“Roll the ball”) and understands simple questions (“Where’s your shoe?”)

YES NO

Enjoys simple stories, songs, and rhymes

YES NO

Points to pictures, when named, in books

YES NO

Acquires new words on a regular basis

YES NO

Uses some one- or two-word questions (“Where kitty?” or “Go bye-bye?”)

YES NO

Puts two words together (“More cookie”)

YES NO

Uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words

YES NO

2 to 3 Years

Has a word for almost everything

YES NO

Uses two- or three-word phrases to talk about and ask for things

YES NO

Uses k, g, f, t, d, and n sounds

YES NO

Speaks in a way that is understood by family members and friends

YES NO

Names objects to ask for them or to direct attention to them

YES NO

3 to 4 Years

Hears you when you call from another room

YES NO

Hears the television or radio at the same sound level as other
family members

YES NO

Answers simple “Who?” “What?” “Where?” and “Why?” questions

YES NO

Talks about activities at daycare, preschool, or friends’ homes

YES NO

Uses sentences with four or more words

YES NO

Speaks easily without having to repeat syllables or words

YES NO

4 to 5 Years

Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about it

YES NO

Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school

YES NO

Uses sentences that give many details

YES NO

Tells stories that stay on topic

YES NO

Communicates easily with other children and adults

YES NO

Says most sounds correctly except for a few (l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, and th)

YES NO

Uses rhyming words

YES NO

Names some letters and numbers

YES NO

Uses adult grammar

YES NO

This checklist is based upon How Does Your Child Hear and Talk?, courtesy of the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association.

Where can I find additional information about speech and language developmental milestones?

The NIDCD maintains a directory of organizations that provide information on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.

Use the following keywords to help you find organizations that can answer questions and provide information on speech and language development:

  • Early identification of hearing loss in children
  • Language
  • Speech-language pathologists

NIDCD Information Clearinghouse
1 Communication Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20892-3456
Toll-free voice: (800) 241-1044
Toll-free TTY: (800) 241-1055
Email:

NIH Publication No. 13-4781
Updated September 2010

What is normal finding in the language development of a 2 year old?

At around two years of age your child will probably have built up a core vocabulary of about one to two hundred words, and learned to join two words together. It is important to remember that children at this stage often do not pronounce words clearly, and that this is perfectly normal.

Which of the following would be an expected finding in an age assessment of a 2 year old?

3. Which of the following would be an expected finding in an age assessment of a 2 year old? At 2 years old child, a patient should have reached certain developmental milestones. The child will be developing their vocabulary and in addition to knowing almost 300 words, will be developing 2-4 sentences.

What are the major language milestones of the first two years?

Vocabulary and language development in children 1-2 years At 1-2 years, your child will learn to use and understand more words and more types of words. At first they'll understand and say mostly nouns – for example, 'dog' and 'bus'. Eventually they'll understand and say a few verbs – for example, 'eat' and 'run'.

What are three characteristics of toddler language?

Toddler Language Development.
Understand more words than they can speak..
Follow simple directions (e.g., stop, give to mommy)..
Speak around 10 single words, although the words may not be spoken clearly..
Point to something they want while making a sound..
Try to imitate words spoken..