What should my one-year-old be able to do?

We have all probably heard it before: early intervention is crucial. Even though your pediatrician probably reviews developmental norms and milestones during your busy appointment, it can be overwhelming. Let us help!! These are some general abilities you should expect to see your child accomplish by one year of age...

• Uses gestures (e.g. waving, pointing)

• Imitates different speech sounds

• Has one or two words (hi, dog, dada, mama) around first birthday, although sounds may not be clear

• Recognizes simple words for common items such as “cup”, “shoe”, “book”, or “milk”

• Begins to respond to requests (e.g. “Come here” or “Want more?”)

What can I do to help my toddler’s skills develop and build?

• Have your child’s hearing checked and pay attention to recurrent

• ear infections.

• Respond to your baby’s communication attempts and laughter and imitate his or her vocalizations.

• Narrate or talk about what you’re doing while you’re doing things and label objects and actions (“You have a car” “Drive the car”).

• Teach environmental and animal sounds (“A cow says ‘moo’” “Beep-beep” “Vroom”).

• Teach your child turn-taking and to imitate actions and games, like peekaboo, clapping, blowing kisses, pat-a-cake, itsy bitsy spider, and waving bye-bye.

If you’re concerned about your child’s language or speech development, please call and set up a free consultation at (253) 237-3405. Stay tuned for our next post focusing on your littles 1-2 years old!

#Development #Earlyintervention #Developmentalnorms #Parenteducation #Language