toddler boy laughingSome toddlers are very chatty, others are more quiet, and every kid develops at their own pace. I see this firsthand with my twins -- they don't hit their milestones at the same time. Often it's not something to worry about, but as the parent, you know your child best and your instinct will tell you if a missed or slow-to-come milestone should be mentioned to your doctor.
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Speech and talking is a big one. Once our babies say their first word, it's exciting when they add more words to the mix either verbally or by sign, or both. By the time a child is 2, there are 25 words every toddler should be using say researchers from the Child Study Institute at Bryn Mawr College. Twenty-five words is considered the minimum for late talkers -- the average is 75 to 225 words with phrases. These 25 words are considered to be the building blocks of a child's vocabulary.
- all gone
- baby
- ball
- banana
- bath
- bye bye
- book
- car
- cat
- cookie
- daddy
- dog
- eye
- hat
- hello/hi
- hot
- juice
- milk
- mommy
- more
- no
- nose
- shoe
- thank you
- yes
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Dr. Leslie Rescorla is a director at the institute who determined what the words should be. She shared that if your child doesn't say all 25 of these words, it doesn't necessarily mean you should worry -- some kids have delayed speech and catch up by age 4 or 5.
Does your child say all these words?
Image via miss.libertine/Flickr
Written by Michele Zipp on CafeMom's blog, The Stir.
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