Communication challenges will affect one in five Australian children, and yet most Perth families don’t seek a speech pathology assessment until well after their child has started school. By that point, the window where support makes the most difference has already closed.
The 12 to 36-month window is when language is developing faster than at any other point in a child's life, and the skills that emerge or fail to emerge during this period have a real impact on communication, literacy and learning for years to come.
What a toddler's communication looks like at each of these ages tells us a great deal about what lies ahead, and acting on those observations early is the single most effective thing a family can do.
12 months: more than babble
By 12 months old, most children are using one to two words consistently and with real meaning attached, not sound play that resembles words. They are pointing to share interest, waving goodbye and responding reliably to their own name when called from across the room.
Pointing is the first sign of what clinicians call 'joint attention', a child's ability to direct someone else's attention toward something they find interesting. A child who is not pointing, not waving and not responding to their name at this age is showing signs worth discussing with a speech pathologist right away, not six months down the track.
What parents often don’t notice at this point is how much their child understands. Expressive words attract the most attention, but comprehension of basic commands like “give me” or “where’s the ball?” is equally important at 12 months and should be included in any developmental check.
A toddler who is not using varied babble with consonants such as ‘b’, ‘m’ and ‘d’, who shows limited social interest or who has lost skills they had already developed, should be referred without delay. Skill regression at any age is a warning sign, and waiting to see whether skills return is not a sound approach.
18 months: watching for the word burst
The 18-month mark is one of the most overlooked milestones for early language development and one of the most critical. At this stage, most children have a vocabulary of 20 or more words and can follow simple two-step instructions without a physical cue like pointing.
The so-called vocabulary burst, that time of rapid word acquisition, usually starts between 18 and 24 months. A child who arrives at this checkpoint with fewer than 10 words or whose vocabulary is not visibly growing week by week is showing signs of a delay in spoken language that should not be left unaddressed.
At 18 months, children should communicate with different people and in different places, not just at home. A child who communicates freely with their parent but rarely uses words or gestures with other familiar adults may be showing early signs of social communication differences, meaning the way they connect, speak and interact with others is developing differently, rather than simply being behind in how many words they use.
That difference matters, because it shapes the type of support we provide. Both respond well to early intervention, but the approach differs for each child.
For families who haven’t reached this stage yet, or who are already seeing limited babble or less social interest, our early language activity resources on the blog give practical ideas for supporting communication at home in the lead-up to this stage.
24 months: word combinations change everything
At age two, the main thing we look for is the spontaneous and consistent use of two-word combinations. “More milk,” “Daddy go” and “Big dog” all count. A large single-word vocabulary alone, however impressive, does not meet this benchmark.
A 50-word spoken vocabulary is the commonly cited threshold at 24 months, but the diversity of word types matters alongside raw count. Verbs, descriptive words and social words used alongside nouns all point to a more functional and flexible language system.
For two-year-olds, comprehension should include basic spatial and descriptive concepts like in, on, big and little, and the ability to follow two-part instructions without a pointing cue. If a child relies on gesture to follow directions, they may have difficulty understanding language, and those gaps are not always visible from what they say alone.
Most two-year-olds are combining words and are understood by familiar adults roughly half the time, according to Raising Children Network, Australia’s government-funded parenting resource. At this age, speech clarity is still actively developing, so being hard to understand on its own is not a reason to delay referral if other aspects of language development look on track.
Keely Galvin, principal speech pathologist and owner of CommuniKids Speech Therapy, often explains this to families: "The number of words a child uses matters, but so does how they're using language socially. We look at whether a child is commenting, questioning and connecting, not just requesting what they need."
24-month milestone snapshot
- At least 50 words in use across different word types.
- Spontaneous two-word combinations used meaningfully and consistently.
- Two-step instructions followed without pointing.
- Understood by familiar adults approximately 50% of the time.
- Red flag: no word combinations, fewer than 50 words or any significant skill loss.
36 months
By age three, most children use three to four-word sentences and speak for all kinds of reasons. They ask questions, make comments, tell simple stories and use language during play. By this age, unfamiliar adults should understand around 75% of what a child says.
Language and grammar growth
By this point, grammar development is picking up speed. Plurals, pronouns, verb tenses and more complex sentence structures are starting to emerge, even if they're not always used correctly yet. A three-year-old who still uses a lot of single-word or two-word phrases may be experiencing a significant delay.
Understanding questions
Children can also answer basic what, where and who questions with some consistency. Difficulty in this area may reflect trouble both understanding and using language, and it warrants a closer look, rather than a wait-and-see approach.
Social communication skills
At 36 months, social language becomes easier to observe. Children are expected to take turns in simple conversations, stay on topic for a little while and use language to help or participate in play with others. When these skills are limited or missing, it could point to a social communication difficulty or developmental language disorder (where the difficulty is with language itself, rather than hearing or other conditions), as well as a vocabulary delay.
Why this milestone matters
According to Speech Pathology Australia, children with unidentified language delays upon entering school are at greater risk of long-term literacy difficulties. Three years is still within the early intervention time frame, but school readiness is also becoming more of a focus. At this age, if there are ongoing concerns, a formal assessment is the proper next step.
36-month milestone snapshot
- Three to four-word sentences used regularly.
- Understood by unfamiliar adults approximately 75% of the time.
- What, where and who questions answered with some consistency.
- Back-and-forth conversation and social language are present.
- Red flag: primarily single words or two-word phrases, limited question comprehension or absent social language.
Typical variation or a real delay?
Not every child who is slightly behind a milestone has a language delay. And not every child who looks on track is communicating as well as their word count suggests. Early language development is far more complex than a simple checklist, which is why a professional assessment gives a more accurate picture than observation at home.
Take two kids at 24 months old who both have about 50 words. One child might use those words to comment, ask questions and connect with others. The other child uses those same words almost entirely to ask for things, not to comment, question or connect.
This is where a professional assessment is crucial. The goal is not just to count words, but to see how a child communicates in various situations, with different purposes and with a variety of others. The idea isn’t just to gauge how much language a child has, but to understand how usable, adaptable and functional it is in everyday life.
Some children learn language in chunks or whole phrases rather than building it word by word, a pattern known as Gestalt language processing. That way of learning may look very different from typical development, but it can still fall within the expected range for their processing style and should be assessed with that in mind.
Bilingual and multilingual toddlers also require a thoughtful approach. Their total vocabulary needs to be considered across all languages they are exposed to, not just in English. Counting only English words gives an oversimplified picture, and can lead to the child’s needs being overstated or missed.
What a toddler assessment involves
A speech pathology assessment for a toddler is not a high-stakes clinical event. It typically involves play-based observation, a conversation with the family about the child's development and a mix of structured activities and professional judgement to build a clear picture of where the child sits developmentally.
At CommuniKids, the assessment process is built around the family from the start. Keely works closely with parents throughout the session to give a clear and honest picture of how their child is communicating, a plain-language explanation of what that means and a practical plan for what comes next.
A referral can come from a GP, paediatrician or maternal and child health nurse. Families can also self-refer directly; no letter is needed.
In Western Australia, families may also be able to access funding through the NDIS for children who meet eligibility criteria. The NDIS website has current details on eligibility and access.
A common concern we hear from parents is that seeking assessment might cause more anxiety than it resolves. In our experience, it is almost always the opposite: assessment gives families a clear, evidence-based picture of where their child stands, which is a far better starting point than continued uncertainty about whether a concern is real.
You can read more about what the research shows on the long-term consequences of unaddressed language delay in our guide to speech and language milestones for school-age children, which looks at what happens when early delays go unaddressed.
Support and next steps
- Assessment is play-based, low-pressure and family-centred.
- Families can self-refer directly without a GP letter.
- NDIS funding may be available for eligible children in WA.
- Early intervention works best when the brain is most responsive to learning.
- Children who are bilingual or who learn language in phrases rather than words may need milestones interpreted differently.
Trust your instinct
Most families who seek assessment early do so because something feels off before anyone else names it. That instinct is worth trusting, not dismissing.
If your child is approaching one of the milestone markers above and you have a consistent sense that communication development is not progressing as expected, that feeling is worth acting on. The earlier a gap is identified, the more options there are and the stronger the outcomes tend to be.
If you’re unsure, get in touch for a chat about your child.
How we can help: Early intervention →