12 month old
You are coming into your kiddo's first birthday and you are just waiting to hear that first word. The external expectations are high, but don't worry, if you have followed our guide to this point they will have the foundational skills to get there. Their first word is a major milestone, but it is not the only thing that matters. We are building little communicators, not little dictionaries, word count is just one dimension.
Language Comprehension
A speech therapist's guide
Milestones
1. Understands many common words for items and people (ball, milk, book, banana, shoe, mommy, car)
2. Follows simple requests (give me__, come here, get the toy)
3. Points to familiar pictures in books when asked
Learn the foundation of language comprehension
See language comprehension milestones for 9 months
Describe the environment around you. Babies will learn common, meaningful TO THEM words first….*think...mommy, ball, eat, milk, no.
​
Repetition of words is key. Even if you have said ball 50 times today while you were rolling a ball back and forth, say it again, and again. Babies need to hear words over and over and over to comprehend language.
​
Pair the spoken word with something concrete. If you are playing ball, point to the ball and say “ball”, hold it up near your face and say “ball,” when your baby has it say, “Riley has the ball!”
​
SIMPLIFY. Keep your language simple. What’s going to be easier to understand? “Look honey, there is a ball behind the tree over there in the grass. Should we go get it?” OR, walk over to the ball and point “Look! A ball. It’s a ball. I found a ball.”
​
We use the term “follows commands,” “follows directions” or “follows simple requests” when discussing milestones, but this isn’t AT ALL about your baby’s ability to be obedient. This is about understanding spoken words. Make this fun and incorporate following directions into play, meal times and other routines. Some examples of the early ability to follow commands, “give me the cup” “get the spoon,” “sit down.”
​
“Get mommy the ball!”
Help them understand this command and others like it by showing them where the ball is, point to it, repeat your request. It could go something like this:
Mom: get the ball
Baby: doesn't respond or look at the ball. May appear as if they didn’t hear you.
Mom: where’s the ball?
Baby: doesn’t respond
Mom: get the ball (while pointing at the ball and putting it within baby’s reach)
Mom gives the ball to baby, “you have the ball!”
​
When teaching your baby the names of common items teach words by process of elimination. If you are playing on the floor with a few toys, first ask something like, “where’s the car?” If the baby doesn’t respond (they likely don’t understand what you are asking), pick up two toys (one of which is the car) and say “where’s the car?” If they don’t reach for either or the items or if they don’t reach for the car, show them, “this is the car. Car. vroom vroom vroom.” Then move on to play with the car.
​
When playing with your baby, think of a few key words to focus on at a time. Think about bombarding them with 3-5 key words so they hear the word repeatedly. Remember, repetition is highly important to solidify a word in a child’s bank of words they understand. If you are playing with blocks, pick 3-5 words to repeat. I might pick block, up, on and fall down. “Block on, block on, up (as the tower gets higher), up (keeps getting higher), up (even higher), uh oh fall down!” Then do it again. Let your baby do some of the stacking and you keep narrating using those 3-5 key words.
​
Ask your baby to find and point to common pictures while you are reading. You can say “where’s the apple?” If they don’t respond, model pointing to the apple for them. You point to the apple and describe the apple. On the next page ask “where’s the house?” if they don’t respond again, model by pointing to the house and gently help their hand touch or point to the house. Providing hand over hand help can show the baby what you are asking of them and also help build upon understanding of words. If they resist hand over hand help for pointing, don’t force it, just model with your own pointing.
​
Teach the same item, different context. For example, if you are reading a book with food and there is an apple, show the baby the real apple in your house, play with a pretend apple. Getting exposure to words in various forms is a great way to teach language in real life, rather than drilling pictures or flash cards. Example 2, when reading Spot books, “there’s Spot the dog. He’s a dog. Dog.” Point to your family pet, “dog.” If there is a stuffed animal of a dog around, label that too. While you can teach that there are multiple meanings of a dog, babies may over generalize and then think all animals are dogs. This is A-OK and how babies learn language. Eventually, with more and more exposure to new language, they will differentiate between a dog and a horse, etc.
12 months
See language comprehension milestones for 15 months
Language Expression
12 months
Milestones
1. Uses meaningful gestures to like waving, pointing to objects, putting arms up to be picked up
2. Copies speech sounds and non-speech sounds
3. Copies names of familiar objects
4. Says animal noises (moo moo, ba ba) and environmental sounds (vroom vroom, shhh)
5. Says one or two words meaningfully
6. Common first words include “mama,” “dada,” “hi,” “dog”
7. Sounds and vocalizations begin to sound more like “talking”
Learn the foundation of language expression
See language expression milestones for 9 months
A speech therapist's guide
Gestures are an amazing way for babies to communicate before they can use real words and as they are learning to communicate by talking. Model gestures and pair them with common words. Point to things while you talk about them, pat your tummy when you tell baby it’s time for dinner, waving hi and bye, shake your head when you say no.
Talk back and forth with your baby. Try to have a whole “conversation” by making sounds back and forth. The “conversation” may not have real words or meaning, but it still mimics a conversation. Back and forth, taking turns talking, intonation are all critical foundational language skills.
​
Predict -- If you can tell what your baby wants but isn’t quite using the “real” word yet, model the word and respond appropriately. Repeat. For example, if your baby points to counter top and sees a banana, you say, “Oh you want banana. Banana. Let’s have lunch.” or “You are pointing to banana, not time to eat right now, but we can have a snack soon.” Acknowledge and talk back to them as if they said the word you know they are trying to say.
​
Sing and listen to songs that have hand gestures. Wheels on the Bus, If you’re Happy and you Know it, and Itsy Bitsy Spider are some favorites. Model the gestures when singing to your baby. Be playful and provide gentle hand over hand to help them use their hands to gesture along with you.
​
Animal and environmental noises will be easier for your baby to imitate than a full word. Think “moo moo” = easier than “cow,” “Vroom vroom” easier than “car” and “woof woof” easier than “dog.” Model sounds during play, not just words. Make sound effects in addition to using the name of the item whenever you can.
​
Play my turn, your turn. A peek-a-boo style game adapted for the older baby. Play a new game with baby to help support imitation. Play classic peek-a-boo but this time try to have your baby imitate sounds back and forth. Hide behind a blankie, throw pillow, around the corner. Pop out and say an early speech sound. Start with “BOO!” Point to your baby and say “Your turn!” They might laugh and want to see you do it again. Try to get them to imitate “boo” to ask for another round of peek-a-boo. Do this by waiting in silence for 10-15 seconds, then show them how to make the word by pointing to your mouth, say "Boo," then point to them.
​
Keep the conversation flowing. Babies learning to use real words will combine jargon (speech like talking with intonation), babbling, gestures and some real words, sometimes within a single sentence. Nod your head, act excited and talk back to you baby. Respond to their jargon and babbling in an appropriate way to help them feel like their voice has meaning and carries weight. Use context clues to decipher what they may be saying. “Oh the truck drives on the train track. Wow, let me try!” Tell and show them that you understand and are trying to understand.
​
If your baby is having difficulty copying/imitating words, simplify what you are asking them to say. Asking them to imitate the first sound in a word will be more accessible to them than the whole word.
​
In order to get your baby to copy you, you must model the word and use it often. Babies are most likely to copy a word that they understand and in an appropriate context. For example, they may imitate “car” when you are playing with cars but not at the park. Having the physical object nearby will also help them copy the word most easily because they can attach meaning.
​
When asking your baby to copy you, point to your mouth, use signs for your turn/my turn (pointing to yourself or to your baby) to help them understand what you are asking them to do. Pointing to your mouth will also help them see how the first sound in the word is made.
​
Repeat your child’s production of a word and expand on it. For example, if he says "bu," you say "bubbles" and encourage him to repeat you. His productions will become more clear with increased repetitions.
​
If your child asks for something and says, "uh," say the word he is attempting and ask him to repeat. "You want the book", you say "book or buh" His production may not be clear, but give him the opportunity to produce the words when asking for items.
See language expression milestones for 15 months
Social
12 months
Keep using your baby’s name all the time. Use it to grab their attention, replace their name in common songs. Narrate using names in addition to pronouns.
​
Wave hi and bye everywhere you go. Say hi and bye to special toys. Wave bye to stuffed animals when you clean them up. Wave hi when your baby wakes in the morning or from a nap.
​
Respond to your baby’s points. They may be constant by now, but try to stop and respond, because they are showing you their world. Validate their pointing and sharing with you by responding. Some examples → “You are showing me the book.” “You see your puppy.” “You want the bottle.” “I see the clouds too.”
Milestones
1. Turns and looks at person calling their name
2. Waves “hi” and “bye” to people upon entering and leaving
3. Points to objects with intention of showing and sharing them to others
Learn the foundation of social development
A speech therapist's guide
See social milestones for 9 months
See social milestones for 15 months
Play
Continue to play simple games with your little one, like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake, along with other songs that have hand gestures. Encourage your baby to do the hand gestures along with you by providing hand over hand, asking them to do it too or having them do even one gesture. Clapping at the end of every song is a nice early gesture to focus on if some other gestures feel too complex for your child right now (i.e. the itsy bitsy spider is more complex than clapping).
​
Roll a toy car back and forth with your baby. If they don’t send it back after you send it to them, try using the language “My turn, your turn” to get them hooked and excited about passing it back and forth.
​
Try “1, 2, 3, GO!” OR “Ready, set go!” to get your baby psyched about rolling you a ball or pushing a car down a track. Take turns rolling the ball or pushing the toy car to model these play skills naturally for your baby.
​
Model putting toys in a toy box, toy bin or your own organization system. Put all the toys that go together in one bin, like cars in one, blocks in another. Dump them out, and do it again! Use simple language like...in, out, put in, put car in, car go in, dump, empty, full.
Milestones
1. Enjoys games like “pat-a-cake” and “peek-a-boo”
2. Explores toys by shaking, throwing, banging
3. Uses some toys appropriately, like pushing a toy car, rolling a ball
4. Enjoys putting things in and taking things out of containers
A speech therapist's guide
Learn the foundation of play
See play milestones for 9 months
See play milestones for 15 months
12 months
Toys & Activities
12 months
Baby doll
Container toys
Find a toy that involves your kiddo putting items into it. These are referred to as container toys. They'll love the experience of successfully putting the item in the container and it will provide you an opportunity to model words like "more", "in", etc.
Playing with baby dolls is a wonderful way to elicit pretend play. Sharing, patting, hugging, kissing, feeding, dressing and being gentle are just a few of the pretend play and social interactions you can practice.
Bubbles
While your kiddo might still be learning to blow bubbles, we're sure they will love popping them. Let them ask for more bubbles using a sign or the word before you simply fill the room with them. Pro tip, buy no spill bubbles.
