Many times during speech evaluations, our speech pathologists here the question, “How much should my two year old be talking at this point?” There is a lot of variance at this age, however, for all children at this point, there should be a large influx of verbal language. As with any milestone, the number of words will vary for each child. According to the research from Language Disorders from Infancy through Adolescence, the average number of words a 24-month-old uses is 200-300 words. Two-word combinations are being used frequently at this age (for example: “Hi Dad,” “food hot,” “ milk spill,” etc.). Children should be using their words to request information and objects, answer questions, acknowledge what was said to them receptively, refuse things offered to them, and comment on stories, observations and their environment around them. Pointing is replaced with pairing words and objects as well as requests at this stage as well.
There are many ways to encourage verbal language from your little one throughout daily routines. Provide two options for a snack and encourage them to verbally approximate the one they want. For example, if you offer crackers or bananas, and your child says “nanas” rather than just pointing to their choice without verbalizing, give them their choice that they have asked for. Sing songs and pause to have them fill in the missing words. This works great with Old McDonald and your child can fill in the animal noise. You can also ask simple questions while reading a book where the answer is a familiar word for them. For example, if the mom in the story is eating, you can ask, “Who is eating?” and encourage them to answer “mommy.” You can tailor your questions to always have the answer for a word they use frequently. During pretend play with animal toys, you can encourage your child to tell you how the animal should get from one point to another. By asking them to use a verb and the animal they would like, you can excitedly complete the action with their toy to reinforce their request (e.g. “fly bird,” “swim fish,” “run dog,” etc.).
Remember, this doesn’t happen overnight. Starting to practice these skills during story time before they turn two will help to assure your toddler is moving in the right direction in making gains with their speech and language. It will also help build their receptive language, or language that they are understanding, before they begin to have a burst of expressive language. If you are unsure if your child is making appropriate speech and language gains for their age, please call our center at 773-687-9241 to meet with a pediatric speech and language specialist for an assessment of their skill level. You can also email us at info@cptwc.com for more information!
