Joanna Fortune: My toddler understands everything but only has a few words. Should we worry?

Dr Joanna Fortune: "Between two and a half and three years, many children can use 50 to  100 different words and follow two-step instructions, for example: “Can you pick up your shoe and bring it to me, please?'."

My two-year-old daughter has only a handful of words. She seems to understand everything we say and smiles a lot. By contrast, her cousin, born around the same time, recites poems and talks in full sentences. Should I be concerned?

Your worry is one I hear a lot in my clinics. Some typical speech and language development guidelines can alert us if our little ones need additional support. For example, most two-year-old children can generally combine two to three words and use 'I', 'me’, 'we' and 'mine'. Between two and a half and three years, many children can use 50 to  100 different words and follow two-step instructions, for example: “Can you pick up your shoe and bring it to me, please?'.