ASHA's Developmental Milestones: Birth to 5 Years

Communication and Feeding Skills

Developmental milestones will help you...

  • be familiar with what to expect as your child grows and develops;
  • identify skills to work on with your child and when to get professional assistance;
  • know when to seek audiology and/or speech-language pathology services; and
  • gain valuable information and resources to share with your child’s doctor and others.

This is not a screening or diagnostic tool. It is meant to be used to start conversations with your child’s doctor and other professionals in seeking services or making a referral.

Each child develops uniquely, even within the same family, and may meet certain milestones earlier or later than others. Your child may not reach each milestone until the end of their age range. Talk with your child's doctor if your child does not reach many of the milestones based in their age range.

ASHA's feeding and swallowing milestones are based on international data and are consistent across country of origin or language spoken. A Spanish translation is available for these milestones.

Learn more about how these milestones were created and see the supporting research.

Type of Milestone

Communication (Hearing, Speech, and Language) Milestones

Developmental Milestones - Communication

Feeding and Swallowing Milestones

Developmental Milestones - Feeding and Swallowing

Next Steps

Worried about your child’s hearing?

Contact an ASHA-certified audiologist.

Audiologists can test your child’s hearing. They test children of all ages, even babies. They can suggest ways to make your child’s hearing better.

Find an Audiologist

Worried about your child’s speech, language, and feeding?

Contact an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist, or SLP.

SLPs help people who have problems with speech, language, and thinking skills. SLPs also work with people who have trouble feeding and swallowing. SLPs can test and suggest ways to help your child.

Find an SLP

You can find audiologists and SLPs in these settings:

  • clinics
  • colleges and universities
  • home health
  • hospitals
  • private practices
  • public and private schools
  • rehabilitation centers
  • state and federal government agencies
  • state and local health departments

To find a professional near you, visit ProFind.

Resources

ASHA Corporate Partners