What should my child's language look like at 6 months?

At 6 months old, your child is just starting to explore their world through sound!
The following skills should have emerged by this point:

Receptive language milestones:

• maintain eye contact and turn head towards a speaker
• imitating facial expressions and gestures with an adult  
• finds a partially-hidden toy and reaching for objects
• enjoys repeating a newly learned activity and hits objects when playing

Expressive language milestones:

• making sounds when happy or upset
• cooing and babbling sounds like mi, pa, da
• giggles and laughs

*When researching developmental milestones for your child's language development, it's important to keep in mind that ages of expected development are for children who are typically developing. Many children with speech or language delay or disabilities show atypical development and don't always follow the same sequence. Visual, hearing, and/or motor impairments all play a role in language development.