An internet list I was on had a parent who wanted to hear about speech development in our kids. The interesting thing was how each child was different. There were some similarities: many had pronoun issues, many had echolalia, many had “TV TALK”.

The time and way that each child developed language seemed to be different among the respondents. Below is what we filled out about Lukas.

1. At what age did your child speak in single words? _______________

10.5 months

2. At what age did your child express intent and desire in their

communication on a consistent basis (asking for stuff as opposed to just

labeling)?

12 months-ish? If he wanted a toy/object he would put both hands

out, whine, and say the name over and over again.

3. At what age did your child speak in two and three word sentences?

You mean scripts or?? Lukas spoke scripted talk early on (by 16months

or so) when he would say "no no cookies till dinner" at the appropriate

part of the book he was reading. He would not say "want X" or whatever.

I remember when he was 24m onths old, he walked in a room full of

adults and said "whats going on here?" This is something he watched his

great uncle do for a few days. However, the simple things my twins

are going "daddy go bye bye" didn't happen. When he wanted out of

his stroller to run, he would simply say "hands". When he was 3, he

had the combos but it wasn't right. He would say "I'll help you" when

he meant "come help me". By four, he finally started original sentences

like "I want"... The same pattern developed in Italian too except that now

he has lost some of his Italian.

4. What were their first words (before and after any regression)?

Lukas never lost words. His very first word was "palla" which is

Italian for Ball. His second and third words followed in the 11month

with "no" and "kaka (a word for you know what!) At 13m onths

of age, according to my baby book, he also had "copta for helicopter,

tractor, cow, ball, momma, dada, pooh, down, and read."

5. When did they use adjectives to describe things?

around three? It was more like numeral adjectives. He could

look in the sky and say "two birds". He would ask for his

"green train." by saying "green train?" However, I don't think he

would say "this ice cream is sweet." It was just a few adjectives that

he would expressively use.

6. When did they receptively understand one step commands?

must have been around 18-24 months?- more along the lines

of come here, where is, go get, etc.

7. When did they use pronouns correctly?

Still working on that. :) He got the my/your down at

5. He got the I/You down at 5. He/she he got down more

like at 4 years of age. Before 4, he didn’t use he or she but

called people by name.

8. When did they name people (and not just labeling or part of a

drill...when did they call your name if they wanted you?)

2 years of age for sure. He would look through a photo albumn at

3 and be able to name every relative and he never had trouble

learning the names of neighbours. There were three kids in our apartment

buildign and he would shout out there names when he saw them at

3.

9. When did they have real conversations with give and take?

This happened closer to 4.5-5 years of age.

10. When did start talking about things related to internal states

(expressing feelings, likes and desires, fears, things that are personally

significant to them, etc)?

Again, this happened closer to 4.5-5

11. When did they form logical sequences to their speech (the word order is

correct and there are logical links between thoughts?)

I think there has always been logical links between thoughts.

The word order is still somewhat of a problem.

12. When could they answer open ended questions and elaborate (such as

answering, "How was your day?")

Again, 4.5-5 when he started receiving intensive therapy.

13. When could they answer what, who, where, questions?

This is just down now at 5.

14. When could they answer why questions?

5 years

15. When could they begin to make predictions of other's behavior, feelings,

etc.? Like...she is crying because....

4.5 years of age.

16. When did they show a sense of humor beyond visual slapstick or puns?

Or...when did they begin to take things less literally?

still kinda working on this but he does know when you are joking him.

THe literalness was worse at 3 and 4. Once when he was 4, I told him

"wash your hands, pee, in the tub." I was giving him a list of things

to do and talking in fragmented sentences. Know what he did? Washed

his hands and looked at me with the queerest look, sighed, and peed

in the tub. Now, he knows when you are joking but there are words

that confuse him like "punch out" I believe I told the list the punch

out story at McDonalds but bear with me. He was sitting with a tutor

and suddenly he punched his happy meal across the table onto the floor.

The whole place stopped and looked at him. Tutor was frantically deciding

whether or not to consequate this, put it on extinction, etc. Finally, she

opted to ask why... He said "because it said to punch out." Of course,

he was suppose to punch out the figure on the box, not box with it..

Those kinds of things are the literal problems we deal with now.

17. When did they understand sequence of ideas....this happens first, this

happens second, and so on?

Again, 4.5-5

18. How bout preopositions? At what age were these understood and used

consistently?

He understood those by 4.5

19. When were they able to categorize based on one attribute, two, three?

4.5

20. When did they start to talk a lot? Meaning....more than a few words per

day.

hehe.. Lukas always talked and talked and talked. He babbled constantly.

He spoke constantly. He was constantly talking at 2.

Here is what he did:

0-5 months: gurgles churtles, etc

6: loud repetitive noises for vowels

8-12: constant babbling all day long with object labelling and

squeals

12-18 months: amassed several hundreds of words including

words like blustery. Would just say the word for an object

he wanted. Still pointed. gibberish mixed in.

18-24: more tantrums but still increased vocabulary. Definitely more

independent and exploratory.

24-36 months: again, still increased vocabulary and increase in scripted

talk. Still no real original 2-3 word combos. Tons and tons of gibberish

mixed when he was talking to you. Everyone joked he had a third language.

36: tons of scripted talk. unable to follow 2-3 step commands. increase

in vocab still. Still tons of intelligible stuff mixed in when he tries to

tell you original sentences.

48 months: still has tons of gibberish, emergence of ORGINAL 2-3 word

sentences like "I want juice" if he says it slowly. Taken off all milk products

at this time. No therapy. Still can't follow 2-3 step commands. Prepositions

are absent.

53 months: ST of 50 min per week started.

54 months: plenty of scripted talk (what the other person should say

and not what he should say), jibberish, etc.

4 yrs 8months: start of Lovaas an increase in ST with an SLP.

Within two months, tons of jibberish disappears magically.

5yrs: most jibberish gone. Follows 1,2,3 step commands. Answers

basic social questions. Scripted talk is disappearing. Uses pronouns

(not always correctly but uses them)Understands most prepositions

receptively.

5yrs 3months: scripted talk is pretty much nonexistent, receptively

and expressively understands prepositions, half pronouns udnestood,

half wh questions understood, social questions are down, recalls some

past events, identifies and expresses emotions, uses words to express

anger and disappointment, talking in more conversational matter and

asking tons and tons of questions. Began antiyeast regimen.

5yrs 6months: wh questions mastered, conversation turns mastered,

has real conversations, pronounds are overall no trouble, recalls

past events of more than just a few minutes ago, understands some

jokes, etc.