Many parents hear their toddlers babble in ways they don't understand and worry over whether or not their child is reaching milestones in speech development.
In "The basics of toddler speech development: What parents need to know," the writer reassures parents:
“Even the standards set in most child development charts indicate a normal age for approximately 75% of children…Children have their own timetable in speech development, just like everything else."
In recent years, people have started to disagree with the notion that multitasking is ideal, but young children seem to know this instinctively. The article points out something many anxious parents may not realize: that some children focus on one skill and leave another for after they've mastered the first. Little ones who feel driven to learn how to walk first are likely to concentrate on that, putting better speech development on the back burner.
The article lists a number of scenarios under which a parent would want to have his or her child evaluated such as not being able to understand a child who is three or older 74% of the time or noticing that your child seems to have lost vocabulary or speech abilities he or she previously had.
Remember, there is a range of time during which children are expected to become proficient in certain areas; what child development experts want to see is that these developmental milestones take place in order. An example would be that children first learn to speak in two-word sentences and then later develop the ability to follow two-step directions (e.g., “Get the book and bring it to me.”)
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