In most cases, a child will produce his first word around the time of his first birthday, but the foundation for communication comes much earlier. By about 8 months of age, a child has developed the concept of object permanence, the ability to understand that an object exists even if he can no longer see it. If you hide his toy under a blanket at this point, he will look for it.
First words tend to be nouns—people or things that are familiar. As children develop improved oral motor skills, pronunciation will become more precise. In the early stages of speaking, it is important to pay attention to the intent as much as to the production.
Fingerplays, music, and books are valuable tools to help any toddler develop and expand basic communication skills.
As children learn to express themselves, they incorporate combinations of pointing, grunting and jabbering to tell you what they are asking for. When these attempts at conversation are encouraged and responded to, the child learns that communication has value. Words can manipulate the world.
Around a child’s second birthday, he should have an expressive vocabulary of about 50 words and should begin to put two words together.
By a child’s second birthday, he generally has developed the concept that words can change his world. Children at this age are likely understanding new words every day and starting to use several new words each week. This increase in understanding generally precedes a child’s ability to control the speech muscles sufficiently to produce clear articulation. About this same time, he begins to put 2 words together, and sentence length gradually increases from there.
