Learning to talk: The 25 words all two-year-olds should know

Rex

According to new research, there are 25 words all toddlers should be using before they reach the grand old age of two.

The 25 words are from a list of 310 which should make up a toddler's vocabulary.

And those 25 words?

Mummy, daddy, baby, milk, juice, hello, ball, yes, no, dog, cat, nose, eye, banana, biscuit, car, hot, thank you, bath, shoe, hat, book, all gone, more, bye bye.

Creator of the Languard Development Survey tests, Professor Leslie Rescorla, monitored 78 two-year-olds for 15 years for his research, and found that half of those were slow to start talking, but did not demonstrated any other developmental issues.

At 17, their vocabulary was classed as at least as good as average, yet was still not as good as those who were better talkers as toddlers.

The youngsters who were late to talk were also found to perform poorly in tasks involving verbal memory, or listening to words, sentences, or numbers and then repeating them back.

Experts said that up to 20 per cent of all two-year-olds are behind their peers in speech, with half to three-quarters of those likely to just be late-bloomers who catch up over time.

Some children though, will have ongoing problems with speech, and a limited vocabulary at two could indicate other problems such as autism, dyslexia or deafness.

Delegates at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual conference in Vancouver, where the research was presented, were also told that television was no substitute for parental attention, and conversation and interaction was crucial when a child was learning to talk.

Professor Rescorla said that if children do not use most of the 25 words by 24 months, they may be "late talkers," but added that parents should not panic if their child is developing normally otherwise.