Page 3 of Information for parents about hearing loss in children by Phonak AG

communication milestones your child s speech and language development age developmental milestones 9 months demonstrate an understanding of simple words mommy daddy no bye-bye 3 to 5 years the cochlea which is the sensory organ of hearing attains full adult size and enables the child to hear by the 20th week of pregnancy this means that children can be exposed to the sound of their mothers and other voices even before they are born after birth a newborn child s cochlear sensitivity is similar to that of adults but babies must learn how to use their hearing to form the foundations of communication localization one of the earliest and easiest auditory skills to observe in your baby is localization the ability to pinpoint the source of a sound because we hear through two ears binaurally we can localize sounds with extreme accuracy observing your child s localization ability in general newborns will move or widen their eyes when they hear a loud sound this is known as the startle reflex and many loud sounds should induce this reflex when your infant gets to about five or six months you can better observe a true localization response by making soft sounds behind or to the side of your infant while he or she is looking straight ahead be sure you are out of view when making the sounds a soft rattle shake or a whisper should prompt your baby to turn his or her head toward the sound while we expect infants to startle when presented with very loud sounds it is most important to see how well your baby responds to soft sounds such as the speech sound s 10 months babbling should sound speech like with single syllables strung together da-da-dada the first recognizable words emerge at about this time one or more real words spoken understand simple phrases retrieve familiar objects on command without gestures and point to body parts also should have a spoken vocabulary between 20 and 50 words and use short phrases no more go out mommy up spoken vocabulary should be at least 150 words coupled with the emergence of simple two word sentences most speech should be understandable to adults who are not with the child daily toddlers also should be able to sit and listen to read-aloud picture books spoken language should be used constantly to express wants reflect emotions convey information and ask questions a pre-schooler should understand nearly all that is said vocabulary grows from 1000 to 2000 words which are linked in complex and meaningful sentences all speech sounds should be clear and understandable by the end of the preschool period 1 year 18 months these milestones are rough rules of thumb for the majority of children if your child is more than 2-3 months delayed compared to the above-mentioned age-groups it might indicate hearing loss or delayed speech-language development 24 months during the first year your baby will refine listening skills and should alert to and look for the sources of common sounds around the home such as a ringing doorbell or telephone slamming door children playing a musical toy and speech 4 5

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