Speech and first words

Understanding runs ahead of speaking, often by a wide margin, so a child who says little may still follow a great deal. First words usually arrive around the end of the first year, and the spread is genuinely wide. What is worth watching is not the count but the direction: new sounds, attempts to communicate, responding to their name, following a simple instruction. Talk, read and narrate more than feels natural. If a child loses words they had, or does not respond to sound, ask rather than wait.