Communication Development: By 18 Months

Here is some information about how children's communication skills usually develop by the age of 18 months. Below are some activity suggestions to encourage communication from 18 months. Use the language that you are most familiar and comfortable with.

By 18 months, what should my child be able to say and do?

• understand simple phrases, such as "where's your drink?", "shoes on"
• give a toy to an adult on request
• repeat actions to make someone laugh
• be starting to use more than 20 common words, such as "milk", "daddy", "more"
• be starting to turn pages in books and to point at pictures

What are some tips for encouraging my child's development from 18 months?

• spend time looking at picture books and photos and talking about what you see
• sing and do the actions for action songs/waiata
• talk about what you see when you are out and about; for example, shopping, in the car, on the marae