Monitor your child’s hearing
Your child should continue to respond to sound and show that their listening skills are developing.

By 18 months, your child should:

• Like simple stories, picture books, songs, and rhymes.
• Follow simple directions and understand simple questions, such as "go get your coat” or "where is your shoe?"
• Point to familiar objects or body parts when asked.
• Point to pictures in a book when they are named.
• Understand and say at least 10 single words (words may not be pronounced clearly).
• Say more words every month.
• Communicate and interact with others.

By 24 months, your child should:

• Use more words than gestures.
• Say at least 50 words, but understand many more.
• Use 2-words together, such as “more milk” and “mommy eat”.
• Ask simple questions like “what’s that?”
• Understand 2-part sentences, like “get your ball and put it in the box”.
• Start to use -ing (eating), “s” at the end of a word to mean more than 1 (boats), and words that show who an item belongs to (baby’s bottle).
• Use their own name.
• Be able to sit and listen to story books.
• Speak well enough so that adults who don’t know them can understand at least half of what they’re saying.

Talk to your family doctor or healthcare provider if you have concerns with how your child is responding to sound.