Stages of language development

Holophrastic One-Word Stage (11-19 months)

Children at the one-word stage begin imitating inflections and facial expressions of adults.

Babbling or Pre-Language Stage (0-6 months)

Children at this stage send and receive messages, and use reflexive crying to communicate with caregivers.

Age Five

Five-year-olds have a vocabulary of about 2,100 words and a working knowledge of the grammar of the language.

Age Four

Four-year-olds generally have about 1,500 words in their speaking repertoire

Ages Six and Seven

Six-to-Seven-year-olds have a speaking vocabulary of about 2,100 words and a comprehensive vocabulary of more than 20,000 words.

Ages Eight to Twelve

The speaking repertoire of eight-to twelve-year-olds continues to grow and improve as their communication needs change from using language to have their needs met, to becoming language makers in academic settings.

Telegraphic Stage (18-27 months)

The telegraphic stage represents a higher degree of linguistic development in which the child goes beyond the two-word stage.

Ages Two to Three Years

At age two children have about 200 to 300 words in their linguistic repertoire and can generally produce short sentences.

Two-Word Stage (13-24 months)

At the two-word stage, children begin producing rudimentary types of phrases.