Birth to 3 years: Communication and Language
When I am a baby:
- I turn towards familiar sounds. I am startled by loud noises. I can accurately locate the source of a familiar person’s voice, like my mum’s or my dad’s
- I like to gaze at faces. I copy facial expressions and movements. If you stick out your tongue, I’ll stick out mine. I make eye contact for longer periods as I get older
- I watch people’s faces as they talk
- I like to copy what you do and take ‘turns’ in joining in with conversations by babbling
Find out more about The Ooh-and-Coo Duet of Babies’ Language Learning on the Early Learning Nation website.
- I try to copy the lip movements that you make
- I enjoy singing, music and toys that make sounds
- I can recognise your voice and it makes me feel calm when I hear it
- I can listen and respond to a simple instruction
- I make sounds to get your attention. I do this in different ways such as crying when I’m hungry or unhappy and making gurgling sounds, laughing, cooing or babbling
- I like to babble. I use sounds like ‘baba and ‘mamama’
- I use gestures like waving and pointing to communicate
- When I want something, I reach or point while making sounds
- I like to copy your gestures and words
- I babble all the time and use single words when I am playing
- When I am ‘talking’ I change my intonation, pitch and volume
- Wait for me to communicate with a sound, a look or with words. This helps me to lead the conversation
When I am a bit older:
- I can understand single words such as ‘cup’, ‘milk’, ‘daddy’ when they are used in meaningful situations
- I can understand frequently used words such as ‘all gone’, ‘no’ and ‘bye-bye’
- I can understand simple instructions like: “Give to nanny” or “Stop”
- I can recognise and point to objects when you ask me about them
- I like to focus on an activity that I have chosen. I can find it hard it when you move me away from something I find fun
- I like to listen to you when you talk, but I can find it hard to pay attention when I see something interesting
- I can feel really frustrated when I can’t make myself understood
- I am learning to use words and actions to let you know how I am feeling
- I am learning to have conversations but I often jump from topic to topic
- I like to join in with pretend play like ‘putting the baby to sleep’
- I can use the speech sounds p,b,m
- I can pronounce: l/r/w/y f/th s/sh/ch/dz/j
- I can pronounce words that have more than one syllable such as ‘banana’ and ‘computer’
- I might pronounce some words incorrectly. It helps me if you reply to what I say using the right words and sounds. I learn from your positive model, without losing confidence to speak
- I like to to listen to simple stories. I can understand what is happening, with the help of the pictures
- I can identify familiar objects when you describe them. I can point to the big boat in a book we’re sharing. I can get an apple when you ask me to
- I can understand longer sentences. I can “Make teddy jump.” When you say that as we’re playing. When you say: “Find your coat.” I can do that
- I can understand simple questions about ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘where’ (but generally not ‘why’)