How Many Words Does Your Toddler Say?

How many words does your toddler say? Once you understand the definition of a word (see post, What is a Word? Do Sounds Count?), you can start keeping track of how many words your child knows. 

What words can your child say on his own?

What words does he frequently use?

What words does she use to indicate her needs?

These are the words that you should be counting! 

For example, Willie says, “Milk,” (or something that sounds like the word milk) every time he wants milk and doesn’t need to be prompted to say it. He also says, “Wawa,” every time he wants water instead of milk. Willie is able to convey his needs through the use of these two words. He also demonstrates an understanding of the words’ meanings since he correctly applies them.

The quantity of words in your child’s vocabulary is important for a few reasons.

Words that emerge early in young children’s vocabularies mostly consist of simple syllable structures. However, as a child’s vocabulary expands, his or her ability to say more speech sounds and produce complex sound combinations increases. For instance, “mama”, “dada”, and “wawa” each contain one repeated syllable and are easier for early talkers to say, but as your child speaks more, he or she will usually be able to produce more complicated words with non-reduplicated syllables. “Mama” may turn into “Mommy” and “Wawa” turns into “Water”. 

Delayed or missed communication milestones may indicate potential difficulty in your child’s development. Children who are later diagnosed with specific language impairment, autism, and other learning disorders are often slow to say first words and have difficulty combining words together. This is NOT to scare you! Rather, this is to stress how important it is to track your child’s speech progress so you can recognize delays if they happen and take action. Each child is unique and develops at their own pace. Please see my resource library to download a complimentary copy of my first words tracking sheet. 

To learn more about language development and how to facilitate first words please see my new book, My Toddler’s First Words. It is available for purchase at Amazon or ask for it at your local public library! 

An Amazon affiliate link has been included for your convenience. Here is a link to my disclosure policy.
Here are some more posts related to this topic that you may find helpful:

What is a Word? Do Sounds Count?

My Toddler Isn’t Talking. What Should I Do?

My Resource Library at My Toddler Talks