Many parents ask, "How many words should my toddler say?" Most toddlers start saying their first word around 12 months of age; however, some toddlers may say their first word a little later. By 18 months, toddlers are usually saying between 50 to 100 words. At 2 years, toddlers typically say between 200-300 words. By age 3, your toddler may have a vocabulary between 500-1,000 words.
What if your toddler is not using all of those words, should you be concerned? Most speech-language pathologists don't worry too much unless an 18 month old toddler has fewer than 20 words and a 2 year old has less than 50 words. This could be a sign that your toddler is a late talker.
A late talking toddler is a child 18 months (1 ½ years old) or older who is using a limited number of spoken words for his or her age. Late talking toddlers usually have a vocabulary of less than twenty words beginning at 18 months. Some toddlers speak late due to hearing loss, speech disorders, language disorders, and various diagnoses such as autism, cerebral palsy or Down Syndrome. However, late talking toddlers are usually typically developing in all other skills (fine motor, gross motor, cognition, and social/emotional) but speech.
So, what words should your toddler be saying? According to researchers from the Child Study Institute at Bryn Mawr College, by age 2 toddlers should be saying these 25 common words:
-all gone
-baby
-ball
-banana
-bath
-bye bye
-book
-car
-cat
-cookie
-daddy
-dog
-eye
-hat
-hello/hi
-hot
-juice
-milk
-mommy
-more
-no
-nose
-shoe
-thank you
-yes
If you suspect that your toddler may have a speech delay please contact a local speech-language pathologist to schedule an evaluation. If your child is under age 3, then he or she can receive services through your state's early intervention program. You can find your state's program here: http://nichcy.org/babies/services
To learn easy and practical speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.
What if your toddler is not using all of those words, should you be concerned? Most speech-language pathologists don't worry too much unless an 18 month old toddler has fewer than 20 words and a 2 year old has less than 50 words. This could be a sign that your toddler is a late talker.
A late talking toddler is a child 18 months (1 ½ years old) or older who is using a limited number of spoken words for his or her age. Late talking toddlers usually have a vocabulary of less than twenty words beginning at 18 months. Some toddlers speak late due to hearing loss, speech disorders, language disorders, and various diagnoses such as autism, cerebral palsy or Down Syndrome. However, late talking toddlers are usually typically developing in all other skills (fine motor, gross motor, cognition, and social/emotional) but speech.
So, what words should your toddler be saying? According to researchers from the Child Study Institute at Bryn Mawr College, by age 2 toddlers should be saying these 25 common words:
-all gone
-baby
-ball
-banana
-bath
-bye bye
-book
-car
-cat
-cookie
-daddy
-dog
-eye
-hat
-hello/hi
-hot
-juice
-milk
-mommy
-more
-no
-nose
-shoe
-thank you
-yes
If you suspect that your toddler may have a speech delay please contact a local speech-language pathologist to schedule an evaluation. If your child is under age 3, then he or she can receive services through your state's early intervention program. You can find your state's program here: http://nichcy.org/babies/services
To learn easy and practical speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.
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