Common First Words: Toddler Speech Therapy

The following is a list of common first words adapted from The Rossetti Infant Toddler Language Scale (2006) and from the research findings of Professor Leslie Altman Rescorla, the director of the Child Study Institute at Bryn Mawr College. Rescorla's results indicate that there are 25 commonly used words that toddlers know, even those that are slow to learn language. This suggests that these words are worth targeting when working on language intervention for late talkers.

Common First Words

If your child is not yet using some of these words, try targeting a few when participating in the play routines presented in My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child's Language Development. (Amazon affiliate link included.) My latest book, My Toddler’s First Words: A Step-By-Step Guide to Jump-Start, Track, and Expand Your Toddler’s Language will also teach you how to strategically choose and elicit first words from your toddler.

Click the image to download a free PDF for your own erudition.

Common First Words

If you are a speech language pathologist or educator, please feel free to make copies to share with your families. If you think there is anyway I can improve this handout, please let me know: kim@scanlonspeech.com

I hope this has been helpful.

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