IDEAL ASL & English Language Milestones

This document includes language milestones for American Sign Language and English. These include skills for newborns to 11-year-olds. Each age range gives a skill for what your child should understand and express. Developmental milestones are the behaviors or skills seen in infants and children as they grow, learn, and change. There is a typical range in which a child will reach a milestone. Milestones on most checklists are not when an average child has mastered a skill. It is when 80-90% of the children within that age range have mastered the listed skills. Keeping track of milestones can help identify when your child may need some support (e.g., language therapy). The sooner your child receives any needed supports, the better their outcomes will be.