Infants and toddlers are able and ready communicators. They communicate through gestures, sounds, facial expressions, movements, and language.

Infants’ and toddlers’ abilities to communicate grow as they interact and communicate with others. In fact, the sounds, tones, and patterns of speech that an infant hears early on sets the stage for learning a specific language. They begin to understand words, express themselves using words and learn the rules of conversation in their language.

Possible Warning Signs of Language & Communication delays in Infants & Toddlers

Young Infants

• Lack of interest in social contact (e.g., avoids eye contact)
• Does not respond to the human voice or other sounds

Mobile Infants

• Infant stops babbling
• Infant does not show interest in exploring and interacting with people and objects in a familiar environment
• Infant does not follow or track where you point (around 9 to 10 months)
• Infant does not show or point at objects (around 11 to 12 months)

Toddlers

• Has limited vocabulary
• Uses only short, simple sentences (by 36 months)
• Misunderstands questions most of the time (by 36 months)
• Others have difficulty understanding him or her most of the time (by 36 months)
• Displays fewer social skills and peer play interactions than other children at the same age (by 36 months)

How Infants and Toddlers Communicate

As you study the chart above, you may notice that some milestones are associated with infants’ and toddlers’ ability to listen to and understand language (receptive communication). Other milestones are associated with infants’ and toddlers’ ability to express themselves using sounds, movements, gestures, facial expressions and words (expressive communication), and some are associated with infants’ and toddlers’ knowledge and ability to engage in communication exchanges with peers or adults (social engagement).

Receptive communication refers to an infant’s or toddler’s ability to listen to and understand language. They begin to understand language as part of their nurturing relationships with responsive, trusting adults and are able to make sense of gestures, facial expressions and words well before they are able to verbally express themselves.

Expressive communication is the ability of infants and toddlers to express themselves through sounds, gestures, facial expressions and words. A beginning point for expressive communication is the infant’s cry. Cooing is another form of early communication and can begin as early as one month. By six months, you can hear new sounds like “ma,” “ba,” and “da.” By 18 months, you may hear toddlers using two- and three-word sentences, such as “me go,” or “more drink, please.”

Social engagement involves the understanding and use of communication rules such as listening, taking turns and appropriate ways to use sounds and facial expressions. Conversations involve both understanding (receptive communication) and expressing (expressive communication). Infants and toddlers learn the ways to use sounds, gestures, facial expressions and words of their family’s language(s) when adults interact, talk, read and sing with them.