Developmental Checklist for Speech Therapy

Parents should consider seeking an evaluation with a Speech Therapist if their child demonstrates any of the following:

Birth to 2 months:

• Does not cry when hungry or uncomfortable
• Does not make comfort sounds or sucking sounds
• Cry does not vary in pitch, length, or volume to indicate different needs
• Difficulty establishing/maintaining a rhythmical suck/swallow pattern
• Significant loss of breast milk/formula out of side of mouth during feeding
• Does not react to loud sounds
• Does not calm in response to familiar voice

3 to 5 months:

• Inability to establish or maintain face-to-face communication during feeding
• Does not vocalize or look in response to sound stimulation
• Has not begun to laugh by 5 months in response to play
• Difficulty with feeding such as above

5 to 7 months:

• Does not babble during play or in response to stimulation (may suggest a hearing problem)
• Does not use voice to vocalize attitudes other than crying
• Does not respond to sound stimulation (indicative of hearing problems)
• Difficulty with swallowing early solids or other feeding issues

7 to 9 months:

• Does not look towards sounds or own name
• Does not babble double consonants (bababa....)
• Difficulty managing different textures of foods (gagging, choking, etc.)
• Does not participate in conversations with adults using babbling noises
• Does not say "mama" or "dada" non-specifically
• Does not use different inflections to produce exclamations
• Does not vocalize to gain/keep attention

9 to 12 months:

• Does not successfully eat early finger foods or munch/bite on foods
• Cannot babble single consonants such as "ba" or "da"
• Does not respond to words/language appropriately
• Does not experiment with language when playing independently
• Does not participate in conversations by responding with vocalizations
• Does not enjoy social games such as “pat-a-cake” or “peek-a-boo”

12 to 15 months:

• Does not use inflection during vocalization
• Does not experiment with language during play
• Does not use 1 to 3 words spontaneously while repeating additional words
• Does not vocalize or gesture to communicate needs
• Does not use "no" emphatically and meaningfully
• Does not use exclamatory expression such as "oh-oh", "No-no", Ta-da", etc.

15 to 18 months:

• Does not attempt to sing songs
• Cannot use 10-15 words spontaneously
• Does not use vocalization in conjunction with gestures
• Does not use language to communicate needs
• Does not repeat sounds or words or imitating environmental sounds
• Does not jabber tunefully during play
• Continues to demonstrate eating problems (swallowing issues, choking, etc.)

18 to 24 months:

• Does not use jargon with good inflection
• Cannot label 2-4 pictures while looking at a book
• Does not put 2-4 words together to form short sentences to communicate needs
• Does not understand nouns, verbs, and modifiers and their uses
• Cannot imitate 2-4 word phrases
• Does not relay experiences using jargon, words, and/or gestures
• Does not have at least 50-100 words

24 to 33 months:

• Cannot sing phrases of songs
• Does not use three word sentences
• Does not use a wide range of consonant and vowel sounds
• Does not use past tense words "He runned"
• Does not express frustration at not being understood
• Does not use up to or more than 100 expressive words
• Does not imitate phrases or experiment with new words
• Words are not clearly articulated

33 to 36 months:

• Does not respond to questions when asked things
• Does not produce correct beginning sounds of words
• Has a hard time understanding prepositions
• Does not speak in complete sentences
• Does not use plurals to refer to more than one (even if not correct)
• Does not participate in storytelling
• Does not have expressive vocabulary of 200-1000 words
• Does not use expressive vocabulary to communicate all needs
• Does not use sentences to communicate
• Unfamiliar listeners cannot understand at least 60-70% of utterances