Communication, Language and Literacy for Development Matters

Vocalises more when adults use child-directed speech.

Turns quickly to hear your voice across the room.

Gurgles to get attention.

Listens to familiar voices even if they can't see the person.

Cries to express needs, for example, when hungry, angry or in pain

Responds differently to different tones of voice (for example, sing-song, questioning, soothing and playful) as the tone of voice helps them to understand the meaning.

Vocalises back when talked to (making own sounds) especially to familiar people and when a smiling face is used.

Uses voice, gesture, eye contact and facial expression to make contact with people and keep their attention.

Points towards objects that are out of reach to request them.

Concentrates intently on an object or activity of own choosing for short periods.

Follows with gaze when an adult directs attention to near objects by looking and pointing, for example, when an adult points to a dog and says "Look at the dog" and the child looks at the dog.

Responds to keywords in play so that when you ask "Where's the ball?" they look to find the ball.

Shows understanding of at least 15 words, for example, looks at a named person and points to or finds an object when asked to (such as, "Where are your shoes?").

Understands names of some common objects, for example, picks up or points to a toy when it is named.

Stops what they are doing in response to "No".

Recognises some family names such as Mummy, Daddy or names of siblings.

Looks towards place where you are looking.

Points to objects in the environment to direct adult attention and share interest and may vocalise while pointing.

Shows understanding of familiar objects by actions, for example, pretends to drink from an empty cup or uses a brush on their hair.

Copies gestures as part of games and familiar routines, such as clapping hands, waving 'bye', blowing kisses, open hands for 'where is it' or 'all gone'.

Waits for speaker to finish before taking their turn.

Attends to pictures for a short time, labelling and making a comment, either with adult guidance or independently.

Communicates for a range of different purposes including to greet, to request, to protest, to label objects and people.

Asks for favourite games using words or gestures, for example, playing peek-a-boo, saying "Boo" or hiding face in hands.

Looks at the person speaking.

Uses voice or gesture to: - attract attention (for example, holding up objects, waving arms); - ask for things (for example, reaching, opening and shutting hands); - refuse (for example, pushing objects away, shaking head).

Attends to an object when you draw their attention to it, by looking and pointing (joint attention).

Watches and listens to others, copying some behaviour in own play.

Waves 'bye-bye' spontaneously.

Initiates give and take games by offering objects.

Looks at an object and then back to you, or points, to direct your attention to it.

Points to named items in picture books.

Speaks to name favourite items such as "bubbles", "ball" or "cat".

Follows with eyes when others point to distant objects.

Simple conversations take place between adult and child, mainly focusing on the here and now.

Uses gesture or voice to direct attention to objects and people, as well as self.

Plays vocal games with you, copying noises you make.

Recognises and responds to own name, for example, by turning or looking up in response to their name being called.

Makes it clear through gesture or voice when they want something to happen again, for example, to play a game again or more to eat.

Begins to point to objects, self and others close by, using index finger.

Uses voice, gestures or actions to join in with a familiar rhyme or game.

Speaks to make requests such as "drink" or "more".

Uses approximately five words without prompting.

Watches and follows adult movements.

Understands and follows simple instructions in context such as "Give me the ball" or "Kiss Daddy night-night".

Follows directions if they are part of a game or relate to what they are doing, for example, responds to "Sit down", "Feed teddy" or "Come and sit down" when a snack or drink is put on the table.

Begins to combine words into simple sentences, usually two words at first.

Plays 'ready, steady, go' or 'one, two, three, go' games, listening and waiting or sometimes imitating alongside speaker.

Follows simple instructions, particularly if accompanied by gestures such as pointing to places, things or people.

Identifies simple body parts on self (for example, hair, eyes, ears and nose) and later points to body parts on others (for example, Mum's nose or Grandad's eyes).

Picks out two or more objects from a group of four, for example "Give me the cup and the doll" and "Where's the... ?".

Sings along with favourite action rhyme (although words may not be clear).

Uses words to comment on what is happening, for example, says "Bird" if they see one in the garden.

Selects familiar objects by name and will go and find objects when asked or identify objects from a group.

Uses verbs and adjectives, for example, 'go', 'sleep', 'hot', 'big'.

Understands familiar words in new contexts each week, for example, learns that 'bath' means the bath in other people's houses as well their own bath at home.

Looks at adult to gain attention before pointing.

Begins to use words to refer to people and things that are not present.

Uses a mixture of words or vocalisation combined with or instead of gesture when playing.

Comments on something that has just happened, for example, "Doggy" if they see a dog on the way home or "Fall down" if the blocks have just crashed over.

Waits for 'go' signal in 'ready, steady, go' games.

Uses at least ten words consistently although may still be best understood by familiar adults.

Understands word-object association.

Talks to self continuously when playing, although this may not be readily understood by adults.

Shows anticipation in relation to key phrases in games, for example, "I'm coming" in hide and seek or chasing games.

Understands approximately 50 words and then goes on to understand one or two new words each week.

Has favourite 'phrases' that are often used such as "That one".

Copies familiar expressions such as "Oh dear" or "All fall down".

Later, uses up to 20 words to: - name things and people; - comment on what is happening; - tell someone something; - respond to an adult's questions or comments; - protest; - express likes and dislikes; - describe actions.

Builds vocabulary for familiar objects and events.

Attends to speech directed to them and listens with interest to general talk.

Names pictures of common objects when they are pointed to.

Recognises and will identify many objects and pictures when named.

Learns to wait for others to finish what they are saying, resulting in better turn-taking with fewer vocal clashes.

Identifies action words by pointing to the right picture, for example, "Who's jumping?".

Rapid growth in spoken vocabulary from at least 50 words rising steadily to over 200 words.

Shows understanding of prepositions 'in', and 'on', for example, by carrying out action "Put dolly in the box" or selecting correct picture.

Asks simple questions using speech with a quizzical face.

Uses words to ask for help, for example, when washing hands or going to the toilet.

Uses 'me' to refer to self.

Uses words during play and almost all activities.

Talks aloud when playing with others.

Uses words to describe things such as "It's wet" or "It's too hot".

Says "Please" and "Thank you" with prompts.

Uses between ten and 15 action words such as 'eat', 'drink', 'sleep', 'wash', 'play' and 'finish'.

Understands 'who', 'what', 'where' in simple questions.

Later, makes longer sentences of three to four words such as "Mummy go shops now".

Will point to smaller parts of the body (such as chin, elbow or eyebrow) when asked to do so.

Begins to make little 'sentences' by joining two words together such as "Daddy gone" and then making short phrases such as "Me got one".

Uses appropriate intonation to ask questions.

Uses words to ask and find out about things.

Indicates 'no' through gestures or speech.

Understands more complex sentences such as "Put your toys away and we'll read a book".

Answers simple questions, for example "Where's Mum?".

Uses words to alert adults to needs, for example, when hungry, thirsty or tired.

Uses several pronouns correctly, such as 'I', 'me' and 'you'.

Talks aloud to self when playing alone.

Points to and names simple pictures.

Responds appropriately to simple two-part instructions or requests such as "Get your shoes and put on your coat" or "Pick up the ball and give it to me".

Likes saying learned expressions such as name and age or address.

Answers 'yes/no' questions appropriately.

Can identify picture or object with three critical elements, for example, 'big girl jumping'.

Uses possessives, for example, 'the boy's teddy'.

Can give information about own life and favourite things.

Answers questions more fully, providing more than one piece of information.

Identifies objects by description, for example, 'the wet one' or 'the dirty one'.

Understands all pronouns: 'they', 'he', 'she', 'him', 'her'.

Understands use of objects, for example "What do we use to cut things with?".

Shows understanding of prepositions such as 'under', 'on top', 'behind' and 'next to' by carrying out action or selecting correct picture.

Provides appropriate information in response to 'what' and 'where' questions.

Realises the correct volume to talk at, not too loud or quiet.

Sings on own.

Uses words to: - give reasons; - say what they want; - play with others; - direct others; - tell others about things.

Can retell a simple past event in correct order, for example, went down slide, hurt finger and later can retell a simple story recalling events and characters.

Uses a range of tenses, for example, 'play', 'playing', 'will play' and 'played'.

Asks increasingly detailed questions to find out information.

Knows when to wait while others are talking and can control the urge to butt in.

Uses plurals, for example, 'cats'.

Vocalises back when talked to (making own sounds) especially to familiar adult and when a smiling face is used.

Is calmed by soft speech or song.

Quietens or alerts to the sound of speech.

Begins to develop and use vowel sounds from the language used at home, for example, 'a' as in hat or 'e' as in pet.

Makes sounds for pleasure, for example, vocalises with tuneful voice for minutes at a time to self when lying in cot or at play.

Produces and copies non-speech sounds such as coos, raspberries, effort grunts, shrieks and squeals

Begins to babble by repeating a series of the same sounds (reduplicated babble), for example, "Ba-ba-ba", "Ma-ma-ma".

Makes sounds such as gurgles and coos.

Turns quickly to your voice across the room.

Responds differently to different tones of voice or speech sounds.

Begins to develop and use some consonant sounds, for example, 'g-g', 'mmm', 'h', 'd-d'.

Own vocalisations sound more like speech and are recognised as 'words': you may say "That's his word for... ".

Tries lots of ways of making consonants in babble: - most common 'b', 'p', 'd', 't', 'g', 'k' are called stops; - 'm', 'n', 'ng' are called nasals.

Begins to imitate the voices of others, especially the vowels and 'ups and downs' of speech (intonation).

Recognises the voices of key people in their life.

Imitates familiar consonants and vowel sounds associated with frequently-used toys and or pictures (for example "Baa-baa" for a sheep, "Moo-moo" for a cow).

Bounces rhythmically when being sung to or when listening to music.

Anticipates actions, tickles and so on from sounds and tunes of songs and rhymes, for example, giggles at the end of 'Round and Round the Garden' waiting for the tickle to come.

Responds to music by swaying, bouncing and so on.

Locates the direction sounds come from by looking appropriately in the direction of the sound.

Associates meaning with some environmental sounds, for example, hears a telephone and immediately looks at it.

Voice starts to have the tone and rhythm (patterns and stresses of familiar phrases) of the language spoken at home.

Begins to use varied double syllable sounds, for example, "Dadi", "Babu" or uses a variety of syllables in continued babbling, such as "Badago" (variegated babble).

Uses a range of vowels from the language heard at home, such as 'i' as in bit, 'a' as in bat, 'e' as in bet and 'u' as in but.

Imitates and joins in babble of others.

Begins to imitate sounds and may copy you if you copy the child's sounds first.

Vocalises as attempts to copy words and later tries to imitate familiar spoken words.

Produces and copies mouth movements for speech sounds, for example, putting lips together for 'm' and rounding lips for 'oo'.

Enjoys singing or rhyme games.

Uses a wide range of consonants and vowels in babble or jargon.

Turns immediately to familiar voices across a room.

Copies symbolic noises and parts of words (for example, "Chooo") and later produces them spontaneously (for example, "Aaah!" when cuddling toy).

Babbles, using consonants and vowels such as 'baba', 'gaga'.

Copies and uses voice spontaneously as part of games or familiar routines, for example, "Bye-bye" or "All gone".

Babbles freely when alone or playing.

Enjoys nursery rhymes and demonstrates listening by trying to join in with actions or vocalisations.

Uses a wider range of vowel sounds in words such as 'ea' as in beat, 'ai' as in bait, 'oo' as in boot.

Uses approximate forms of words to communicate, for example, "mu" for more and later "goggy" for dog.

Imitates words by copying some speech sounds and the correct number of syllables.

Later, sings along with favourite action rhymes (although words may not be clear).

Imitates intonation of what they hear.

Uses a wide range of ups and downs (intonation) and rhythms to reflect mood, such as excitement, level of interest and involvement.

Imitates mouth movements to produce a variety of consonant and vowel combinations, for example, "Mama", "Boo-boo", "Bow-wow". Child may move mouth but not use voice.

Uses a range of consonant sounds in 'words' including 'p', 'd', 'b', 't', 'g', 'n', 'm', 'w', 'h'.

Adults who know the child understand what they are saying when words are joined into sentences.

Recognises and joins in with songs and actions, such as 'The Wheels on the Bus'.

Fills in the missing word or phrase in a known rhyme, story or game, for example, 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a... '.

Picks out a familiar sound even when there is background noise, for example, "Dinner time", "No!" or "Stop now".

Majority of words are intelligible to people the child does not know well.

Builds vocabulary rapidly, understands more words than are in active vocabulary.

Listens to music and responds when it is turned off, for example, stops singing or dancing or turns to look at the stereo.

Frequently repeats words or signs that they hear or see with one or more key words repeated.

Recognises and responds to many familiar sounds, for example, responding to a knock on the door by turning, looking at or going to the door.

Listens to and carries out simple directions.

Produces a wide range of vowels more accurately in words, for example, 'ou' as in bout, 'ea' as in bear, 'ou' as in bought, 'oa' as in boat.

Produces six to eight consonant sounds in words, for example, 'p', 'b', 't', 'd', 'k', 'g', 'm', 'n', 'w'.

Tries to repeat many things adults say either saying the actual word or making a close match, such as "Um-beya" for umbrella.

Recognises own name when written.

Shows sustained interest in picture books.

Listens with interest to the noises adults make when they read stories.

Notices a deliberate mistake in story telling or a rhyme.

Looks at books independently.

Notices if adult uses wrong language in familiar story.

Can remember three or four items shown on a list, for example, a picture shopping list of apples, oranges and bananas.

Can remember a spoken list of three objects or names (with no visual clues).

Is able to follow directions (if not intently focused on own choice of activity).

Speaks in longer sentences.

Takes part in 'reading' by filling in words and phrases.

Listens eagerly to stories and requests favourites over and over again.

Can copy letter forms.

Concentrates and listens for more than ten minutes in adult-led activities that they enjoy.

Shows interest in letter forms.

Produces some consonant blends (for example, 'tr' in tree, 'bl' in blue).

Starting to mark two and three syllables in words.

Makes attempts at reading familiar words in picture books.

Can recognise several letters.

Produces more than half of the consonant sounds accurately.

Can write a few letters when named and make a good attempt at writing own name.

Produces almost all vowel sounds accurately.