Why Milestone Charts Aren’t Telling You the Full Story About Your Late Talker

I know… speech and language milestones are everywhere right now. If you’re a parent of a toddler, you’ve probably found yourself wondering:

🗣️ “How many words should my child have by now?”
🧠 “Should they be able to follow that direction yet?”
👀 “When should they be responding to their name?”

Milestone charts can help answer these questions, but let me tell you something that NO ONE is talking about…

Milestones are just the tip of the iceberg.

If your child is a late talker, there’s actually SO much more happening beneath the surface—critical skills that lay the foundation for speech and language. And here’s the best part: even if your little one is behind on words, you can still nurture these foundational skills to help them catch up!

The Hidden Skills That Come Before Words

Before we expect toddlers to start talking, they need to develop key prelinguistic skills that set the stage for verbal communication. These include ten skills that children must master before we can expect them verbally communicate. Let’s talk about five of those skills:

✅ Responsiveness – How your child reacts to language and interaction
✅ Turn-Taking – The back-and-forth rhythm of communication
✅ Gestures – Nonverbal cues that pave the way for words
✅ Joint Attention – The ability to engage with you in shared experiences
✅ Vocalization – Making sounds, babbling, and early speech attempts

Most milestone charts don’t tell you about these! But without these foundational skills, speech progress can be slow.

The Good News? You Can Strengthen These Skills at Home!

If your toddler is struggling with speech, don’t panic! There are simple, evidence-based ways to build these skills and set your child up for success.

That’s why I created The Tiny Talker Playbook—a digital course for parents that breaks down these essential pre-speech skills and gives you actionable steps to help your little one progress. If you’re ready to go deeper and get step-by-step guidance on how to support your late talker, my course, The Tiny Talker Playbook, is packed with expert strategies to help toddlers start using more words. I’d love to support you on this journey! In the course we dive deep into all TEN skills our little ones master before they begin speaking.

Got questions? Drop them in the comments or send me an email at nicole@speechrisee.com—I’m here to help!