Milestones of Communication:
Development of Communication Skills
Typically, parents watch their child’s development closely. Physical and communication milestones
become major topics of discussion, material for comparison or boasting, and sometimes cause for
concern. For example, a parent might boast, “Joey walked at nine months!” Or they may voice
concern with a statement like, “Matthew still hasn’t said his first word.”
Parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing watch those developmental milestone charts in
the same way as other parents. In fact, parents with deaf or hard of hearing children may follow the
milestones for communication skills even more closely since this is often the area where their
children will demonstrate some delay. Typical communication milestones highlighted in traditional
charts usually only recognize verbal communication skills (spoken English/speech). However,
children who are deaf or hard of hearing may develop both verbal (spoken) and non-verbal (gestural
and/or sign language) communication skills. This means that traditional developmental milestone
charts fail to recognize all of the communication skills that their child may be developing. When we
fail to recognize these emerging communication skills, we may not foster them as much as we could
or would like to. And how can we celebrate emerging communicative abilities if we are unaware of
them?
In order to celebrate a deaf and hard of hearing child’s communication abilities, we need to have a
broader understanding of “communication.” In this resource, both visual and oral communication
milestones have been included. It does not, however, contain every possible way that children can
or will communicate. It is to provide guidance to recognizing the emergence of a variety of
communication behaviors and to support areas that do not seem to be developing age appropriately.
To make better use of the charts, you may need to have a better understanding of the category
headings. The term communicative intent refers to the way in which a child uses gestures,
vocalizations and/or language to let you know what they want or need. It is communication with a
purpose. Signed and Verbal Production are the signs and/or spoken words that children
produce. Listening Skill Development may also apply to a child with various degrees of hearing
loss; this is the way in which a child develops listening skills and/or benefits from the use of hearing
aids or a cochlear implant. Literacy Development refers to behaviors related to the written word.
Remember that every child is unique and develops at his/her own rate – this chart is meant to be a
guideline only. It is also important to understand that, depending on the choices families make
regarding communication method, use and type of amplification, when the child first started using
amplification, etc., you may not see all of the behaviors listed or you may see them emerge later. For
example, if you choose an oral-only communication approach, you may not see some of the sign
behaviors develop because your child is not being exposed to sign language. If you choose not to
use amplification devices on your child, you may not see the speech production or listening skills
developing in your child. Finally, if a child does receive an amplification device (hearing aids,
cochlear implant), it is suggested that you look at his/her “hearing age” rather than his/her
“chronological age”. This is especially important to note if the child is deaf. Because he/she could
not hear anything prior to amplification devices, his listening and verbal production skills may occur
a little later.
Precursory Stage: Birth to 8 Months
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
N
Communicative Intent
Uses distinctive cries to indicate different desires
Maintains eye contact
Attends to sign and/or gestures
Participates in turn-taking behavior: Mother coos, then baby coos; baby drops toy
and looks at mom, mom picks toy up and baby drops it again
Signed and Verbal Production
“Cooing”- Produces vowel sounds: “ahhhh,” “ohhhh”
“Babbling”- Produces consonant-vowel sounds: “baaa,” “maaaa;” may start to
produce sign babble (hand movements)
Produces vowel-consonant sounds and plays with pitch of voice: “abba, abba”
Produces “reduplicated babble:” “bababab,” “agabagaba”
Imitates facial expressions and uses them to show emotion
Listening Development
Detects noises and sounds
Looks toward the source of a sound
Detects other peoples’ voices or name when spoken
Responds when a sound starts and when it stops.
Can detect the sounds “ahhhh,” “ohhhhh,” “iiiiiiiii,” “ssssssssss,” “shhhhhhh,”
“mmmmmmm.”
Literacy Development
Mouths or chews on books
Prelinguistic Stage: 6 to 16 Months
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
N
Communicative Intent
Uses different function words /signs: more, up
Uses different pitches, stress, and duration of sounds; “No!!!”
Uses different gestures to convey meaning: points at a toy to mean “I want that”.
Acknowledges another person with eye contact or action
Plays games using vocalizations/ gestures: peek-a-boo, soooo big
Signed and Verbal Production
Imitates non-speech oral movements: opening and closing mouth, kissing, imitates
signs and sign movements
Points to people, objects or places
Will vocalize on request: “Say, ahhhhhhhh”.
Will use a sign to make a request
Imitates adult speech varying in loudness, pitch, and duration
Can produce the vowel sounds that occur in the following words: mama, me, moo,
and cat
Can produce the consonant sounds that occur at the beginning of the following
words: bat, mat, pat, nat
Can imitate the hand shapes for the following signs: One, five, s, l, a, c, and o
Produces speech-like utterances or sign-like movements and gestures
Uses a combination of real words and word approximations and / or a combination
of real signs and sign approximations
Listening Development
Can identify environmental sounds
Can identify long and short sounds
Can identify loud and soft sounds
Can identify high and low pitched sounds
Can identify speech sounds vs. environmental sounds
Can identify voices of family members / care givers
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
Literacy Development
Is more interested in the story than in mouthing or chewing the book
Looks at pictures
Vocalizes, pats pictures
Prefers pictures of faces
Reaches for books
Early Linguistic Stage: 12 to 24 Months
My child
can do this!
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
Y
N
My child
can do this!
Y
N
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
N
Communicative Intent
Uses names (spoken or signed) of family members to get attention or to make a
request
Uses words/signs to announce and/or greet; “bye-bye’
Uses words/sign approximations with meaning
Uses sign/words with facial expressions
Uses two word/sign combinations with meaning
Responds to routine “who” and “where” questions with a gesture: where’s your
nose?
Asks “What’s that?”
Signed and Verbal Production
Produces vowel sounds like the ones that occur in the following words: bake, bet,
big, bull, bun, bend, box
Produces consonant sounds like the ones at the beginning of the following words:
wet, hot
Can say the names of family members
Can say the names of common things: ball, cat, milk
Can produce about ten signs that approximate adult form
Produces 50-100 words or signs: no, me, mine are common at this stage
Displays fingerspelling-like activity
Uses facial expressions in the following ways: head shake to mean “no”, nod to
mean “yes”, raises eyebrows when asking yes/no questions
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
Listening Development
Understands common expressions: OK, Come here, sit down
Can identify words that are similar in length but differ in vowels and consonants:
toothbrush vs. mailman
Can identify words that differ in syllable and stress patterns
Can identify one syllable words that differ in consonant sounds and vowel sounds:
ball vs. key
Can pick the correct phrase out of a few pre-selected phrases
Can identify voices of family members and caregivers
Literacy Development
Gives book to an adult to read
Turns board pages of a book
Turns book right side up
“Reads” to dolls or stuffed animals
Delights in reading together with adults
Makes the same sound for or label picture
Fills in words in familiar stories
Points when asked “where’s the …?”
Protests to changes in familiar story
Points at pictures with one finger
Linguistic Stage: 20 to 40 Months
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
N
Y
N
Communicative Intent
Uses variation in their vocal pitches and facial expressions to ask questions
Can label actions in pictures using signs/words
Engages in pretend play that involves objects and a sequence that represents a
routine: hooks truck up with trailer, puts baby doll to bed.
Can relate past experiences in 2 to 3 words/signs
Can label a construction or a drawing
Asks “Yes/No” and “Where” questions
Asks simple “why” and “who” questions
Answers “What are you doing?” “How many?” and “Whose?” questions
Uses three word/sign combinations with the intent to communicate something to
another person
Can take turns during a game
My child
can do this!
Y
N
Y
Y
N
N
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
My child
can do this!
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
Signed and Verbal Production
Can produce consonant sounds like the ones at the beginning of the following
words: cot, got, dot, tot, fox, and vote
Imitates and spontaneously produces the hand shapes that make the letters b, f, o
Is beginning to expand use of parts of speech such as verb endings like “-ing” or
“-ed”; or repeats a sign to describe a verb: repeats sign for “WALK” to say “Took a
long, long walk”
Approximates the fingerspelling of words like “OK” and “TV”,
or fingerspells commonly used fingerspelled words
Can produce three or more word/sign combinations
Imitates 5-7 word/sign sequences including facial expressions
Uses negatives: words like no, can’t, don’t, not; or uses head shake to convey NO
Moves sign to indicate action and location: SIT THERE
Use of plurals emerging by adding ‘s’ when speaking or by signing in one of the
following ways: repeating a sign, number and sign, MANY and sign
Listening Development
Able to understand simple directions using listening only: e.g. “Get the ball.”
Understands simple questions about a familiar topic or event
Identifies single syllable words with similar consonant sounds but different vowels:
ball vs. bee, cat vs. key
Literacy Development
Recites familiar phrases, sometimes retells whole story
Coordinates text with picture
Reads familiar books to self
Moves finger along text (emerging)
attends to longer stories
Moves through books to find favorite pictures
Can turn paper pages
Scribbles with a purpose (trying to write or draw something)