Children acquire language at different rates. They go through predictable stages in the first year and a wide range of development in the second year. A one-year-old's vocabulary can range from zero to 40 words, while a two-year-old's can range from very few words to over 600 words!

One-month-old infants cry and 2-month old infants begin to coo. By 3 months, babies can squeal, chuckle, whimper, and make vowel-like sounds. At 4 to 6 months of age, vocalizations include sighing, grunting, gurgling, laughing, and different sounds of crying. Pleasure and displeasure are vocalized. Babbling in syllables progresses for the next three months as well as imitating tones and speech sounds. During playtimes, between 10 and 12 months, much babbling occurs.

Children's first words fall into 5 basic categories. These include names (mama, daddy) , objects (ball, apple, bottle, milk) , action words (up, eat) , adjectives (more, dirty) , and personal and social words (no, bye-bye). A major milestone occurs after children master 50 words. They begin combining two words into micro-sentences such as "Read book!" This happens between 18 and 24 months.

Help your child articulate his thoughts with the following strategies:
* Talk slowly and clearly.
* Let the child lead the conversation and help him expand on his thoughts.
* Do not correct when the wrong words are used. Instead, simply rephrase the statement.
* Avoid testing. Do not keep asking "What's this?" Children learn better without pressure and when they are interested.
* Talk about your activities. This helps language learning.
* Play interactive games like "peek-a-boo" and "pat-a-cake".
* Limit supervised TV watching to less than one or two hours a day.
* If your child speaks only a few words, if you are unable to understand him, or he has not started combining words by 24 months of age, consult your healthcare provider.

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