The important clues about your child’s development are how your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves. Developmental milestones are things most children will be able to do by a certain age.
Talking as well as understanding speech go hand in hand. By observing others, your child learns what words sound like and how to put them in a sentence together.
As a child, they will be discovere first about how to make sounds, then how to make those sounds into real words like “mama” and “dada” which may have slipped out as early as 4 or 5 months.
By the time they become a year old, they start trying to imitate the sounds around her, though you probably feel them as babbling away in a language that only they could understand.
Now 31-36 months comes a period of astonishing growth, as your toddler goes from speaking a few simple words to asking many questions, giving directions, and even telling you stories that they have made up.
Check the milestones your toddler will reach by his or her 3rd birthday.
By the age of 31 to 36 months, your toddler’s language skills have grown rapidly.
Your child probably flecks you with questions and loves to communicate with others.
Speech: When the child is thirty-three-month-old, language development seems to happen rapidly. Kids this old may know around 500+ words, and by the time they turn three, they will be saying three or four-word sentences also.
Self-Care: By this time your child will probably develop the ability to undress and feed herself.
Refusing to listen: Even if you have told your 33-month-old not to do something a million times? If he is still doing it anyway, he is just displaying certain 2-year-old behaviour.
Language Milestones
Between 31 and 36 months, a typical toddler:
• Tells stories sings nursery rhymes and does fingerplays.
• Repeats five-word sentences.
• They start talking to himself or herself about recent events and make imaginary characters.
• Uses social words: “Please,” “Thank You,” “Hello.”
• Names most body parts.
31 and 32 months
Mastered Skills
• Builds a tower of six building bricks.
• Names at least six body parts.
• Throws ball overarm.
Emerging Skills
• Puts on a T-shirt.
• Balances on each foot for a second.
• Brushes teeth with supervision.
Advanced Skills
• Calls a friend by his name.
• Uses two adjectives.
33 and 34 months
Mastered Skills
• Names one colour.
• The child can converse up to two to three sentences.
• Identifies and names at least four pictures in a book.
Emerging Skills
• Builds a tower of eight building bricks.
• Uses prepositions (e.g. on, in, over).
• Speaks clearly most of the time.
Advanced Skills
• Completely toilet trained during the day.
• Wiggles thumb.
• Expresses a wide range of emotions.
35 and 36 months
Mastered Skills
• It can describe how two objects are used.
• Makes a sentence with 4 to 5 words.
• Names two actions (e.g. skipping, jumping).
Emerging Skills
• Balances on each foot for three seconds.
• Separates fairly easily from parents.
Advanced Skills (a few children can do)
• Hops and skips.
• Draws a circle.
• Gets dressed without help.
By the time they turn 3 years, your child will be a more cosmopolitan talker. They will be able to carry on a sustained conversation and adjust to different tones, speech patterns, and vocabulary to fit the person they are talking to.
For example, she will often use simpler words with a peer such as “I need to go potty” but more complex ones with you like “I need to go to the bathroom”. By now all other adults, as well as strangers, should be able to understand almost everything your child talks, which means you won’t have to do much translating as before. She will be proactively saying her first name, last name, her age and will readily oblige when asked.
What you can do as a parent to improve your child’s development? First and the most important thing is to take some time to talk to your toddler and ask about the things that interest him, this is a crucial way to encourage language development.
Some other tips for supporting your child’s language skills are:
• Sing number songs and rhymes like Five Little Monkeys.
• Be prepared to answer lots of questions.
• Instead of always answering your toddler’s questions, occasionally ask questions to your toddler like “What do you think about it?”
• Make up silly rhymes.
• Invent songs.
• Read to your toddler often.
Checklist for your toddler’s development:
Hears you when you call from another room.
YES NO
Can hear the television or radio with the same sound level as other
family members.
YES NO
Answers simple “Who?” “What?” “Where?” and “Why?” questions.
YES NO
Talks about activities at their preschool, or friends’ homes.
YES NO
Uses sentences with four or more words.
YES NO
Speaks easily without having to repeat words.
YES NO
Can pay attention to a short story and will also answer simple questions about it.
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 of the sounds correctly except for a few letters like (l, s, r, z, ch, sh, and th).
YES NO
Uses rhyming words.
YES NO
Names some letters and numbers.
YES NO
Uses adult grammar.
YES NO
