# ASHA Language Milestones & Core Word Research (2026-05-18)

Research compiled for M1-001 rebuild and M1-002 core word board audit.

## Key ASHA Milestone Numbers

| Age | Expressive Words | Receptive Words | Combinations | Red Flag Threshold |
|-----|-----------------|-----------------|--------------|-------------------|
| 12mo | 1-3 true words | responds to name, "no" | none | No babbling, no gestures, no pointing |
| 15mo | ~10 words | follows 1-step directions | none | <3-5 words, no pointing |
| 18mo | ~50 words | follows 1-step w/o gesture | jargon sentences | <6-10 words, no words = immediate referral |
| 24mo | 200-300 (50 minimum for LLE) | 500-900 | 2-word required | <50 words or no 2-word combos = LLE diagnosis |
| 30mo | ~200+ | 500-900 | 3-word phrases | No combinations, <50 words |
| 36mo | 900-1,000 | 2,000+ | 3-4 word sentences | No combinations, unintelligible, no morphology |
| 42mo | 900-1,000+ | expanding | 4-5 word sentences | Still primarily 2-word utterances |
| 48mo | 900-1,600 | 1,500-2,000 | 4-5+ word sentences | Unintelligible, no narratives, <4 word sentences |

## Core Word Sources

### Banajee et al. 2003 — 23 core words (96% of toddler utterances)
I, no, yes, my, the, want, is, it, that, a, go, mine, you, what, on, in, here, more, out, off, some, help, all done/finished

### Project Core — 36 Universal Core Words
all, can, different, do, finished, get, go, good, he, help, here, I, in, it, like, look, make, more, not, on, open, put, same, she, some, stop, that, turn, up, want, what, when, where, who, why, you

### Key insight: None of the 23 Banajee core words are nouns.
Core vocabulary = pronouns, verbs, prepositions, social words. Nouns are fringe/context-specific.

## CDI Normative Data (approximate)
| Age | 10th %ile | 50th %ile | 90th %ile |
|-----|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 16mo | ~3 | ~40 | ~147 |
| 18mo | ~6 | ~70 | ~170 |
| 24mo | ~37 | ~310 | ~547 |
| 30mo | ~208 | ~546 | ~686 |