This guide helps you organise what you're noticing about your child's speech, language and social communication. It is educational and non-diagnostic — a paediatric review looks at the whole child in context.
Step 1
Babble and first words (0–18m)
Cooing, babbling with variety, responding to name, first meaningful words.
Step 2
Word combinations (18m–3y)
Two-word phrases, growing vocabulary, following simple instructions.
Step 3
Intelligibility
How much of your child's speech can unfamiliar adults understand for their age?
Step 4
Understanding language
Following multi-step instructions, answering questions, understanding stories.
Step 5
Social communication
Eye contact, gestures, back-and-forth conversation, sharing interests with others.
Step 6
Bilingual context
In multilingual families, look at total language across all languages, not one alone.
Important
This educational guide is not a diagnosis, medical assessment, emergency service or substitute for consultation with a qualified professional. Appointment requests are reviewed and arranged manually by the clinic team.
Common questions
- My child is bilingual — should I worry about mixing languages?
- Mixing is normal. What matters is total communication across all the languages your child hears.
- Do we need speech therapy first?
- Sometimes. A developmental review helps clarify whether speech therapy alone is enough or whether other areas need looking at together.