Learning to talk

2 to 3 years

You and your child will see a member of your health visiting team at about 2 to 2-and-a-half years to talk about your child’s development. If your child goes to nursery, they will also have a progress review with their key worker.

If your child needs a little extra support, your health visitor and nursery can help. They may also put you in touch with a speech and language therapy team, or signpost you to local activities.

What is my child learning?

Between 2 to 3 years, children learn to say and understand more words. They should be able to:

• ask questions like “what's that?”
• use “I”, “me” and “you”
• describe things using words like “big” or “little”
• talk about past and future events

How can I help my child's speech development?

Help your child use more words:

• when they say “dog”, you could respond with “yes, it's a big, noisy dog”
• when you're playing together, talk about what your child is doing
• talk to your child about feelings and memories
• encourage your child to talk about future events, for example “we're going to the park tomorrow with Granny”
• look at picture books together and talk about things they can see and how we use them, for example "a chair is something we sit on"