Needs a prompt to listen to you, but then can usually focus on what you are saying
Since birth your toddler has been listening to everything around them, from speech to environmental sounds. They have been making sense of these sounds and they rapidly began to learn that listening to and responding to language would provide them with meaningful interactions. Recently your toddler may have been listening to stories and will be engaging in two-way conversations.
Understands action words e.g., if you say, "Can you jump?" they will jump or try to jump
It is at that stage that your toddler will most likely understand more spoken words, be able to comprehend simple stories and follow simple commands. They will discover that learning new language can be enjoyable, and that it can introduce them to a fun, interactive world. Now that your toddler can not only understand language, but use it too, they will be increasingly interested in communicating in a variety of situations.[1]
Uses a word they know for all individual people or objects in a category, e.g. calls all men 'daddy'
Your toddler has been learning lots of early words and they most likely will have linked to family members, routines or objects that are familiar to them. They may be uttering two words phrases such as ‘uh oh’ or ‘bye bye’ and they may have started using a wider variety of words such as adjectives, nouns and some verbs.
Says first name when asked, "What's your name?"
Your toddler will have known and understood what their own name is for some time now. When they heard their name, they may have turned to look at you or they may have pointed at themselves when someone has asked where they are in a photo or when playing a game. Some toddlers talk about themselves using pronouns, such as I or me when they are communicating who they are and talking about what they have been doing.
Identifies objects by their function, for example if you say, "What do we sit on?" answers, "Chair."
Your child has been listening to language in many different formats, such as conversations, stories, tv programs and songs. They have come a long way since their development of language began; from listening to language, attaching meaning to language, saying first words to speaking using words and sentences. [7] They are starting to overcome their overextension of words (using one word to group a wide variety of objects) and are able to group objects in categories that make more sense.
Uses a combination of sounds when speaking, rather than repeating the same sounds
Up until now you will have heard your baby repeating consonant / vowel sounds. The sounds will have been short with very little differentiation of sound in each vocalisation e.g. ‘da, da, da’. It is likely that your baby is becoming much more attentive to you and your interactions have become more frequent.
Beginning to understand some words and responds to the tone of your voice
Your baby hears and recognises familiar voices in the womb even before you give birth. [1] They were able to tune into voices and listen to the tones and speech patterns they were hearing as soon as they were born; this is how your baby learned that words have meaning. Now that they are a bit older, they're starting to connect understanding to the words.
Knows the names of a few everyday items
Your baby will now be becoming quite fluent in the art of baby conversation, their early vocalisations are being held with more intent and they are willing to try and communicate meaning with you. It is around this time that your baby’s brain has connected many words to objects, people and expressions in their daily routine and their level of comprehension is growing.
