MTSkids provides therapy for the following areas of Speech and Language Development:
Receptive and Expressive Language Processing
Reading Fluency (Lindamood Bell LiPS certified)
Autism Spectrum Disorders
ADHD related learning symptoms
Auditory Processing Therapy
Children reach speech and language milestones at different times, however, there are general guidelines in which children have certain skills. MTSkids provides speech and language therapy for the following areas: Receptive and Expressive Language Processing, Reading Fluency (Lindamood Bell LiPS certified, Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD related learning symptoms, Auditory Processing Therapy, and Pragmatics/Social Skills/Peer Groups.
At age 6 months, your child…
- Makes lots of different, playful sounds (called babbling) laughs, gurgles, coos with familiar people
- Reacts to loud, angry, and friendly voices·
- Turns and looks at new sounds
- Babbles for attention
At age 8 months, your child…
- Responds to name and pats image of self in mirror produces four or more different sounds
- Frequently uses syllables such as ba, da, ka
- Transfers objects from one hand to another
At age 10 months, your child…
- May say “mama” and “dada”
- Shouts to attract attention
- Uses jargon (babbling that sounds like real speech)
- plays Peek-a-Boo
- Says a syllable or sequence of sounds repeatedly
At age 12 months, your child…
- Recognizes name
- Points to objects for you to get or name
- Says 2 to 3 words besides “mama” and “dada”
- Imitates familiar words
- Understands simple instructions
- Recognizes words as symbols for objects (for example, hears “car” and points to garage, hears “cat” and “meows”)
From 12-17 months of age, your child…
- Recognizes his or her name
- Understands “no”
- Understands simple instructions
- Points and gestures to call attention
to an event or to show wants - Imitates familiar words
- Waves good-bye and plays Pat-a-Cake
- Uses “mama” and “dada” and several other
words, usually nouns - Practices words
- Likes to make the “sounds” of familiar
animals and things - Gives a toy on request
- Laughs a great deal
- Hears and discriminates among many sounds
- Shows a great deal of affection – makes
noises and pats parents affectionately - Places a cube in a cup on command
- Scribbles imitatively with a crayon
- Attempts to communicate by mixing
jargon with real words - Vocalizes for enjoyment
At age 18 months, your child…
- Uses 10 to 20 different words
- Recognizes pictures of familiar persons and objects starts to combine 2 words, such as “all gone,” “Daddy bye-bye”
- Uses words to make wants known, such as “more,” “up” imitates words and sounds more precisely
- Points and gestures to call attention to an event or to show wants
- Points to own toes, eyes, and nose
- Brings familiar object from another room when asked turns pages of a book a few at a time
- Follows simple commands
- Makes a tower of 3 to 4 cubes
- Knows and says the names of 5 things
- Hums and may sing simple tunes
- Mixes real words with jargon, on occasion
- Develops a play routine
- Practices words and word combinations
At age 2, your child…
- Understands simple questions and commands
- Identifies body parts
- Uses mainly the names of things, actions, persons, and situations in his or her language
- Carries on “conversation” with self and dolls
- Asks “what’s this?’”‘what’s that?” and “where’s my … ?”
- Sentence length is composed of 2 to 3 words
- Refers to self by name
- Names pictures and actions
- Uses 2-word negative phrases such as “not go,” ‘”not right,” “no want”
- Forms some plurals by adding s (such as book, books)
- Has around 200 words in speaking vocabulary
- Builds an 8-block tower
- Asks for drink, toilet, food
- Listens to stories and points to pictures when asked
- Stays with one activity for 6-7 minutes
At age 2-1/2, your child…
- Uses about 450 words
- Gives first name
- Uses past tense and plurals and combines nouns and verbs
- Understands simple time concepts, such as “last night” and “tomorrow” refers to self as “me” rather than by name
- Tries to get adult attention (for example, by saying “watch me”)
- Likes to hear same story repeated
- Uses “no” or “not” in speech and may say “no” when he or she means “yes”
- Builds tower of 8 blocks
- Talks to other children as well as adults
- Begins to control behavior verbally rather
than just physically - Answers “where” questions
- Can name common pictures and things he or she comes in contact with regularly
- Uses short sentences to announce what he or she has done or will like (for example, “Me do it,” or “Me want to jump”)
- Matches 3 to 4 colors
- Knows the words big and little
- Holds up fingers to tell age
At age 3, your child…
- Matches primary colors, names one color
- Knows the words night and day
- Uses contractions, such as it’s or there’s
- Begins to obey instructions with prepositional phrases, such as “put the block under the chair”
- Uses words to relate observations, concepts, ideas, and relationships
- Practices new words by talking to self
- Knows his or her name, gender, and street name, and several nursery rhymes
- Tells simple stories and can convey ideas
- Uses sentences of 3 to 4 words
- Uses nearly 1,000 words
- Can produce consistently the following
sounds: m, n, p, f, h, b, and w - May repeat sounds, words, and phrases
- Can draw a circle and a vertical line
- Can sing songs
- Expresses fatigue verbally
- Can- stay with one activity for 8 or 9 minute
- Asks “what” questions frequently
At age 4, your child…
- Points to colors red, blue, yellow, and green
- Identifies crosses, triangles, circles, and squares
- Follows commands even though objects are not present
- Can speak of imaginary conditions such as
“suppose that … ” or “I hope … “ - Asks many questions but is more interested in how answers fit his or her own thoughts than in the explanation
- Uses sentences of 4 to 5 words
- Asks “who” and “why” questions begins to combine sentences with and
- Uses past tense correctly
- Copies a line and a circle
- Uses the following sounds correctly: m, n, ng, p, f, h, w, y (as in yes), k, b, d, g, t
- Stays with one activity for 11 to 12 minutes
At age 5, your child…
- Defines objects by their use (“you eat with a fork”) and can tell what objects are made of
- Knows words for spatia I relations such as on top, behind, far, near, over, and under
- Knows his or her address
- Identifies a penny, nickel, and dime
- Uses sentences of 5 to 6 words
- Uses all speech sounds correctly with the possible exceptions of v, l, th, ch, j, s, z, zh (as in measure}, and r
- Knows common opposites such as big and little and hard and soft
- Understands the words same and different
- Counts 10 objects
- Tells a story with a simple plot (problem,
action to solve problem, and outcome)
uses future, present, and past tenses - Stays with one activity for 12 to 13 minutes.
- Asks questions to get information
- Distinguishes own but not other people’s left and right hands
- Uses all types of sentences, some of which will be complex (for example, “I can go in the house after I take· off my muddy shoes.”)
At age 6, your child…
- Has correct articulation of most speech sounds
- May still have difficulties with clusters such as spl or tr
- Uses adult-like grammar in sentences and conversations
- Understands the meanings of most sentences
- Names days of week in order and counts to 30
- Predicts the next sequence of events and
- Tells a 4-to 5-part story tells month and day of birthday, name, and address
- Distinguishes left and right
- Knows most opposites and the meaning of through, away, toward, and from
- Knows the meaning of today, yesterday, and tomorrow
- Asks lots of “why,” “what,” and “how” questions
- Is beginning to read simple words like cat, the, and ball
- Is starting to recognize that individual letters in words represent different sounds that form words when put together (for example, c-a-t for “cat“)