Milestones
Speech and Language Milestones: 12–24 Months
The second year is when most parents start paying close attention to language — because it’s when words are expected to appear and grow. It’s also when variation in timing becomes most visible. Some children have dozens of words at 15 months. Others don’t reach that milestone until 20 or 21 months and go on to develop language fully. The “late talker” label most commonly applies to children in this window.
Around
12 – 15 months
Most children in this range use a small number of words with intention — typically a few beyond “mama” and “dada.” They point to communicate interest (not just to request). They follow simple one-step instructions (“come here,” “give me that”). They may hand you objects to request help or share something interesting.
Pointing to share attention — not just to get things — is a significant early communicative milestone.
Sources: CDC MilestonesASHA
Around
15 – 18 months
By around 18 months, many children have ten or more words they use consistently. Under the CDC’s 2022 revised milestones, fewer than ten words at 18 months is considered a flag worth discussing with a paediatrician — it does not mean something is definitely wrong, but it is a reason to ask rather than wait.
They may point to familiar body parts when named. They use words and gestures together to communicate. Jargon — strings of speech-like sounds that sound like sentences but aren’t recognisable words — may still be part of their communication.
The gap between what a child understands and what they can say is often widest here. A child may understand far more than their word count suggests.
Sources: CDC MilestonesASHA
Around
18 – 24 months
By 24 months, many children use around 50 or more words and have started combining two words together — “more milk,” “daddy go,” “dog sleep.” Two-word combinations are one of the key benchmarks for this period because they signal that a child is beginning to put the language system together, not just using words as labels.
A child who has fewer than 50 words at 24 months, or who isn’t combining words yet, is often described as a “late talker” — but the next step is an evaluation, not a label.
Sources: CDC MilestonesASHA
What to watch for
The following are worth discussing with a paediatrician:
- Fewer than 10 words by 18 months
- No two-word combinations by 24 months
- Hard for familiar adults to understand most of what a child says by 24 months
- Regression — loss of words that were previously used
- Not following simple two-step instructions by 24 months
The “late talker” question
Some children in this window are “late talkers” with no underlying reason — their language simply started a few months later. Many late talkers catch up fully without intervention, and some with intervention. The challenge is that it’s not possible to predict from the outside which a given child will do — which is why an evaluation, rather than waiting, is generally the recommended path.
If a paediatrician uses the phrase “wait and see,” you are entitled to ask for a referral to an SLP anyway. A speech-language evaluation does not commit you to anything — it gives you information.
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Next: 24–36 months →