Language Accomplishments for Children

From birth to age 3, most babies and toddlers become able to:

Make sounds that imitate the tones and rhythms that adults use when talking.

Respond to gestures and facial expressions.

Begin to associate words they hear frequently with what the words mean.

Make cooing, babbling sounds in the crib, which gives way to enjoying rhyming and nonsense word games with a parent or caregiver.

Play along in games such as "peek-a-boo" and "pat-a-cake."

Handle objects such as board books and alphabet blocks in their play.

Recognize certain books by their covers.

Pretend to read books.

Understand how books should be handled.

Share books with an adult as a routine part of life.

Name some objects in a book.

Talk about characters in books.

Look at pictures in books and realize they are symbols of real things.

Listen to stories.

Ask or demand that adults read or write with them.

Begin to pay attention to specific print such as the first letters of their names.

Scribble with a purpose (trying to write or draw something).

Produce some letter-like forms and scribbles that resemble, in some way, writing.

Language Accomplishments for Children - birth to age 3