The Terrific Twos! What communication and feeding milestones should your two year old be meeting?
Just like that, your child has grown in age and size, and surely in attitude too. The terrible twos have hit, and boy, don’t you (and the neighbours) know it!
At 24 months, your child will have experienced an explosion of awareness! They should be soaking in all of the sights, smells and sounds of everyday life, learning new things and questioning (…and questioning…and questioning…), well, everything! Your little angel might now have mastered mischief and tantrums, but also the warmest cuddles and a smile you cannot stay mad at.
Despite the joys and certainly, at times, the challenges of having a two year old, there are still certain speech, language and feeding milestones that are essential for your child to be meeting for their lifelong development. You may be blown away at your child’s new skills, however it is worthwhile ensuring that your child’s new skills are meeting the expectations of their age.
To offer you a helping hand, we at SpeechEase Speech Therapy have compiled a list of milestones expected of this terrific, but troublesome, age of two.
Speech:
- Your two year old should be using sounds such as /k/, /g/, /f/, /t/, /d/ and /n/.
- You should be able to understand your child most of the time, however it’s not expected that unfamiliar listeners understand your child too.
Using Language:
- There should be lots of questions! Between two and three years of age your child should be asking ‘why?’ You, on the other hand, should not be expected to know the answer each time you are asked.
- Your two year old should be using two- or three-word sentences to talk to you and to ask questions, for example “mummy catch ball” or “where daddy go?”.
Understanding Language:
- Two-step instructions should be becoming increasingly easier to follow for your two year old. An example of a two-step instruction would be “Get your shoes and bring them to Daddy”.
- You should be able to enjoy story time with your little one for longer periods of time, as his or her attention span will be increasing with age.
Feeding:
- He or she should be independently drinking from a kids cup.
- Your child should be eating the same food as the family (although probably cut up for little mouths!).
- By the age of two, spoons and forks should be independently used by your child.
If you have any queries about your child’s speech, language and feeding development, feel free to call SpeechEase Speech Therapy on 0423 334 144 to have a chat about your concerns and book in an appointment.
P.S. Keep an eye out for our upcoming blog on what communication and mealtime milestones you can expect for your 3 year old.