A 1-year-old is smart in rapidly developing ways, learning to walk, talk (with simple words), use objects correctly (like drinking from a cup), find hidden items, follow simple directions, and understand object permanence (things still exist when unseen). Their intelligence is seen in their growing ability to communicate needs, explore the world through new motor skills, and understand basic cause-and-effect, rather than IQ scores, which aren't meaningful at this age.
Speaks early with many words and even sentences. Walks early and has good hand to eye coordination. Does mechanical things like takes a screwdriver and takes apart a cabinet. Asks constant questions. Can do basic math before school. Can read early,. often before school. Puts together puzzles at an early age.
Imitates animal sounds and noises. At one year, says four to six simple words. At 18 months, says 10 to 15 words. By 18 to 24 months, uses simple phrases or two-word sentences (i.e., “Mommy up”)
Thinking - Cognitive Development
Begins to use common objects correctly (drinks from a cup, brushes hair). Follows simple directions, such as “pick up your book.” Explores things by banging, shaking or throwing. Pokes with index finger.
Three key red flags at 12 months, indicating a need to talk to a pediatrician, include not responding to name/not babbling/not using gestures like waving, not crawling or dragging one side of the body, and not searching for hidden objects or pointing to show things, as these suggest potential delays in communication, movement, and cognitive skills.
The "3-3-3 Rule" for toddlers is a simple mindfulness and grounding technique to calm anxiety by engaging their senses: name 3 things they can see, identify 3 sounds they can hear, and move 3 different parts of their body (like hands, feet, head). This helps shift focus from overwhelming thoughts to the present moment, acting as a "brain reset" for emotional regulation during meltdowns or stress, making it a useful tool for building emotional intelligence and control.
But in general, you can expect your child to: Say a few words with one or two syllables, such as "ball" and "doggie," by 12 months of age. One-year-olds also usually can say "mama" and "dada." They recognize the names of other family members and their favourite toys.
The Growing Child: 1-Year-Olds
Symptoms may include:
Your baby will give you little clues that they're bored, such as yawning, looking away, squirming and crying. If you think your baby's bored, show them you're listening by giving them something different to do. Move them to another area of the room, pick up a different toy or just give them a little quiet time.
How to discipline a 1-year-old
Social and emotional milestones at 1 year
Hands you a book when they want to hear a story. Cries when their parents leave. Is shy around strangers. Puts out an arm or leg to help with getting dressed.
Supervised tummy time is important because it helps to: Strengthen baby's neck, shoulder, and arm muscles so the baby can start to sit up, crawl, and eventually walk on their own.
In population-based studies, maternal IQ is the single greatest predictor of child IQ [17]. Maternal IQ reflects not only genetic influences, but also incorporates environmental factors affecting the child.
If your child shows little interest in pretend play, imaginative activities, or exploring their environment, it might be a red flag. Delayed Milestones: Not meeting typical developmental milestones, such as not being potty-trained by age 4 or not being able to identify basic colors or shapes, could be a red flag.
Looking at developmental delays, the five areas to consider are motor skills, speech, social skills, cognitive abilities and activities of daily living. A child with a global developmental delay has significant delays — typically two or more standard deviations — in two or more developmental domains.
Signs and symptoms of intellectual disabilities
The 7-7-7 rule of parenting generally refers to dedicating three daily 7-minute periods of focused, undistracted connection with your child (morning, after school, bedtime) to build strong bonds and make them feel seen and valued. A less common interpretation involves three developmental stages (0-7 years of play, 7-14 years of teaching, 14-21 years of advising), while another offers a stress-relief breathing technique (7-second inhale, hold, exhale).
Top Signs Your Baby May Be Gifted
Between the ages of 1 and 2, most kids need about 11–14 hours of sleep a day, including one or two daytime naps. At around 18 months, or sometimes sooner, most toddlers condense their two naps into one afternoon nap.
Inconsistent or lack of response to auditory stimuli is a red flag at age 6 months and above. 20. No babbling by age 6 months is a red flag in speech and language development.
Babbling is an important part of language development. Babbling is a combination of consonant and vowel sounds — single syllable sounds like “pa” or “ba,” as well as more complex, strung-together sounds like "a-ga," "a-da" or a long “ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.”
Cooing. To start with, your baby will still use crying as their main means of communicating with you, but will then start to extend his range of sounds. This is when your baby starts to make 'cooing' noises which develop alongside crying.