Pediatric Therapy Milestones

Pediatric milestones offer helpful clues about your child’s development. View the milestones below, which relate to physical, occupational, and speech therapies, to see how therapy might support your child’s growth in movement, play, and communication.

Physical therapy

0-3 Months

• Lifts head 45-90 degrees
• Props up on forearms when on belly
• Moves head side to side

4-7 Months

• Brings feet to mouth
• Does complete rolls
• Sits alone, steady

8-11 Months

• Pulls to standing position
• Begins to crawl
• Can stand then sit

1st Year

• Squats up and down
• Walks without help
• Climbs off furniture
• Runs

2nd Year

• Walks up/down stairs
• Kicks a ball
• Jumps up
• Stands on one foot

3rd Year

• Rides a tricycle
• Catches a large ball
• Walks on a straight line
• Kicks a rolling ball

4th Year

• Jumps over objects
• Rolls forward
• Hops on 1 foot
• Walks on a balance beam

5th Year

• Skips and gallops
• Stands still on toes
• Catches a bounced ball

Occupational therapy

0-3 Months

• Brings hands to mouth
• Looks at objects briefly
• Falls asleep without excessive calming

4-7 Months

• Holds a bottle
• Looks at toys while holding them
• Tolerates loud noises

8-11 Months

• Begins letting go of toys purposefully
• Bangs toys together
• Explores various textures

1st Year

• Uses a spoon, holds a cup
• Completely off the bottle
• Sorts shapes
• Able to scribble

2nd Year

• Takes off socks and shoes
• Unscrews jar lids
• Able to string beads
• Eats all food textures

3rd Year

• Puts shoes on the correct foot
• Builds nine-block tower
• Completes four-piece puzzle
• Colors with a crayon
• Imitates a cross/circle

4th Year

• Buttons large buttons
• Traces and copies
• Dresses independently when asked
• Cuts out shapes

5th Year

• Cuts on straight lines
• Tries to color in the lines
• Buttons small buttons
• Aware of dangerous items

Speech therapy

0-3 Months

• Able to latch and nurse/bottle feed with minimal leakage from the mouth
• Smiles at other people

4-7 Months

• Has different cries for different needs
• Begins babbling and expands the use of babbling sounds

8-11 Months

• Produces multiple babbling sounds
• Tries to imitate sounds made by adults
• Turns and looks to find sounds/voices

1st Year

• Starts using 1-2 word phrases
• Has 5-20 words/50 words by 18 months
• Points to wants and needs
• Responds to name and the word “no”

2nd Year

• Uses 2-3 word utterances or more
• Vocabulary expands weekly
• Over 450 words
• Starts asking questions: “What’s this?”

3rd Year

• Uses 3-4 word utterances or more
• Vocabulary expands to 1,000 words
• Produces speech that most adults understand
• Can tell simple stories or tell you about their day

4th Year

• Uses 4-5 word utterances/sentences and strings sentences together
• Vocabulary expands to 1,500 words
• Uses “Why?” and “What?” questions
• Produces more difficult sounds and words

5th Year

• Can have a conversation with you about prior events
• Makes comments and is able to give directions
• Knows name and address
• Uses most speech sounds correctly