List of Skills by Age
1-2 Months
Makes eye contact with parent and smiles
2-4 Months
Vocalizes to initiate socializing
Smiles and starts vocal turn taking when adult imitates the infant’s sounds
4-6 Months
Responds differently to familiar and unfamiliar people
Uses voice to express pleasure and displeasure
Responds to sounds by making sounds
6-8 Months
Shows desire to be included in social interactions with others
Enjoys playing games such as peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake
8-10 Months
Follows point or visual gaze of another person
Points to direct attention of adult
Initiates interactions by reaching for the adult’s mouth, nose, etc.
10-12 Months
Moves body to engage in social interaction with others
“Talks” with others in back and forth vocalizations
12-15 Months
Points to request information or an action
15-18 Months
Repeats words heard in conversations
18-21 Months
Attempts to converse with jargon and real words
Directs conversation primarily to self and adults
21-24 Months
Takes 1-to-2 turns in conversation
Uses 2 -word phrases to communicate
Initiates a topic with one or more words
Intentionally communicates five times per minute
Talks about needs, feelings, and past events with adult help
24-27 Months
Takes 2-3 turns in conversations by adding new information
Initiates a topic and responds with new information
Dependent on the adult to scaffold the conversation
Begins to cooperate in games, songs, and finger plays
27-30 Months
Communicates about previous experiences when adult talks about them and asks questions
Conversations begin to be directed to other children, as well as self and adults
30-33 Months
Participates in storytelling and book reading with adult
33-36 Months
Listens for up to 20 minutes in one-on-one situations with preferred books
Follows a narrative and talks about it
Talks to self but begins talking to peers rather than adults
36-42 Months
Follows meaning in conversation among numerous people
Interrupts and talks over others to give own ideas in a group
Understands meaning, even if indirectly stated (e.g., “I need my shoe” implies “Give me my shoe”)
Still seeks out adults for conversations, but prefers peers
42-48 Months
Takes 4 turns in a true conversation on a topic
Participates in a narrative describing an event
May interrupt in conversations, but is beginning to understand taking a turns in a group
Seeks out peers for conversations, rather than adults
48-54 Months
Raises hand to offer comment in a group
Directs conversation primarily to peers and responds to peers’ conversation directed toward him
54-60 Months
Communicates in group activities by taking turns most of the time
Begins to understand humor; tries to tell jokes or make others laugh with stories
Talks about another person’s likes, dislikes, and point of view
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015
©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.