By Michelle Foye MA CCC-SLP, Director
of Speech Language and Learning Services
at Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center
Each baby and child develops at a different rate, but there are some milestones that can generally be expected by certain ages. This includes certain speech, language and hearing developmental milestones. The list below includes some typical milestones for children who are 1 year old.
(See last week’s post for milestones for babies who are 6 months old.)
- Imitates different speech sounds
- Babbling has long and short groups of sounds and follows typical speech rhythm (ex. tata upup bibibibibi)
- Jabbers loudly, especially during play, with a large variety of sounds and intonations (jargon)
- Has said their first word, or even has one or two words (ex. mama, dada, bye-bye, hi) although they may not be clear
- Uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep attention (for example, shouts and coughs)
- Imitates novel sounds/actions (echolalia)
- Shakes head “no” and pushes undesired objects away, waves “bye”
- Uses exclamations like “uh-oh”
- Affectionate to familiar people
- Communicates with babbling and gestures that have intent
- Enjoys games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake
- Turns and looks in the direction of sounds
- Listens when spoken to
- Interested in picture books
- Recognizes words for common items (ex. cup, juice, etc.) and points with index finger
- Will give block, toy, or object on request
- Begins to respond to requests (for example, “come here,” “want more?” etc.)
- Responds with searching movements to simple questions
- Looks in correct place for toys out of sight; uncovers hidden object if observes act of hiding
- Shows awareness of more than one object; indicates displeasure when an object is removed
- Deliberately drops toys and watches them fall
- Plays ball with another person — when seated, rolls ball between their legs to another person
- Throws objects intentionally
- Stands up without support
- Extends arms to be picked up
- Reaches to request an object
- Enjoys banging objects together
- Expressive of many emotions: happy, sad, mad, etc.
