12–15 months

First Words That Matter

The words that get used most are the words that stick.

Somewhere around their first birthday, most toddlers start producing real words — and infant vocabulary research (like the widely used MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory) consistently finds the first words cluster around a small set of categories: family members, animals and everyday routine words. Pairing a word with a consistent gesture or action — a technique known as Total Physical Response — helps toddlers connect sound to meaning faster than words said alone. The priority now is a small set of high-utility words used often, not a large vocabulary used rarely.

• First-words categories: family members, animals, familiar people
• Pairing words with a consistent gesture or action
• Sound play — animal sounds are often easier than words
• Consistency over vocabulary size