I have a 3 year old son who is talking in one word from the time he was16 month. He imitates pretty fine,has wide area of interest from trucks to trains to dolls. He can remember his cartoons and their dialogue in proper sequence and keeps repeating them full day (not clear though),
But when we ask something he is not able to answer. He can only follow single line command (like go get your shoes, switch off the fan, switch on the TV etc) and that too sometime when he is not occupied with anything, if we tell something complex , he will get confused. He has a good vocabulary but not able to frame sentences which he should be as per his age. He knows ATO Z, 1TO 10, rhymes (half of it is just gibbereish) can answere question like what is your name along with parents name, if asked?
My second problem is that he would stand among kids but doesn't try to interact with them? He doesn't reply to anybody greetings and takes little time to settle himself when known people adavnce towards him. If we take him to some social gattering he will shut his eyes and will stick to us . He has good eye contact and doesn't behave weirdly when he goes to supermarkets. Even with some familiar people he try to show them their toys but with other he hesitate a lot.
Now my son is going to preschool where he got settled with his class and kids within three days. Every morning he shows willingness to go to school. At school he doesn't like to open his mouth but good at doing crafts work.
We got his hearing checked from audiogist which was fine.we are just three at home and doesn't have any social circle.
My third concern is if problem in the brain could be the reason for speech dalay? At this point I would like to mention, my son fell down for the first time when he was just four days old and after innumerable times. For his developmental milestones he stared cruising when he was 9 month old and 14 month old he started walking and soon after that he started his one words like plane, car etc

If you're worried, then you should take him to a specialist in child development.

It's not unusual however, for boys to learn to speak and socialize later than girls.

A friend of mine had a young son who uttered only single words until he was about 3 and a half. One night she was woken from a deep sleep with him standing by the bed, shaking her and saying "Mummy my nappy's wet, can you change it?"

He talked in full sentences after that!

Again, if you have concerns, the best and most sensible thing to do is to see your doctor and have him tested.

I would take him to the doctors and try to get a referral for an early intervention specialist in your area. It is probably that your son is healthy, and will catch up sooner or later but with these sorts of things you don't want to take chances. Children with disabilities, speech, learning, language, autism (and really, there is a chance that your son could have one of these, they are very common) benefit greatly the earlier they are diagnosed. If a diagnosis is made early enough, and a plan is made, even children with autism have improved to the point where the disability is barely evident. I can not tell you that this is what your son has without observing him myself, and chances are that he is fine, just needs some extra help. However, its better to be on the safe side.

Its perfectly normal for a 3 year old to not talk in complete sentances. Take her/ him to a doctor if you are really worried. Just keep working with her and she will talk when she is ready.

Developmental guidelines are just that - rough guidelines. Your child is ahead in some, like knowing his alphabet and numbers at the age of three. That's generally not expected to be known until Kindergarten (though some kids learn it earlier it's fine if they just learn in preparation for first grade). Also, he is speaking so it's not that he cannot engage with others. And he's interacting with some people with his toys. So, the building blocks are there and I am guessing he's just not interested in talking and doesn't want to perform for others.

Keep it light, read to him as much as you can, perhaps have him watch educational kids television shows that make language fun. And if you're concerned, mention it to your pediatrician.

Thanks for your replies,

Our biggest concern is that he keeps repeating the rhymes he is watching and does repeat dialogues from his favorite TV shows, which we are do not fully understand as 70% of those is gibberishsdfdsfds but no spontaneous words or sentences. Also another concern is that he doesn't answer questions (except what is your name, mama's name body parts etc), most of the times he simply repeats the last word from the question, good thing is that he repeats only if he wants something else he will ignore the question ex, if we ask Do you want to eat banana? He will say banana if he wants else he will ignore it.

Any suggestions what we can do so to encouraged him to take part in conversation, one more problem is he is not at all interested in reading books or listening if we try to read books to him.

Hai,
I am rathika.I also have a son who is 3 years old and he is the same as your son .everything you said is applicable for him.iam very much worried of him.

Hi there my son is 4 next month, and his exactly as your son. Please tell me what happened with your son, as I'm thinking to have his brain scanned to check on the way it is functioning. I don't know if I am paranoid but I'm very worried.

Well nothing much has changed since I posted this as far as the speech and language development is concerned, currently he is in our native country. He is finding it tough to learn to communicate and still taking in 1 words or sometimes two words, picking up some new words from our native language. We took him to a speech therapist who told us that he is hyperactive and probably that is the reason he is not able to pick the language and they are currently working with him to make him sit for sometime so that he can concentrate on what is being said so that he understands better. We have seen a clinical psychologist who had ruled out that he is on autism spectrum as he can understand some directions and express his needs both verbally and non verbally but we are still worried as there are no major improvements, he will turn 3.5 years in December.Some improvements which came in the last 6 months are he is counting from 1 to 50 now, he can recognize number up to 25 and he can recognize almost 20 alphabets now, he is still glued to TV and keep repeating what he watches and listens there only thing is his interest has changed and shifted to new cartoon characters. We have worked with the school district and got the dates for his assessment and a possible IEP if required. To your question for checking his brain our doctor has ruled out that as she said it doesn't look like that is a problem as he can understand stuff and tests like MRI etc are too much of radiations for a kid unless it is absolutely necessary.Better get him to a developmental pediatrician or go to your school district for an evaluation as that take times, and yes we have learned it now sooner the better for the child, no need to wait.

Thank you very much for replying to me.
Your son is still young and trust me he will improve greatly as he grows older. My son is 4 today. 6 weeks ago I stopped the TV watching, there is no more Micky mouse, and I noticed improvements in his concentration and interest in others. I have an appointment with his pediatrician on Monday to check on his development.
I also started talking in English to him to minimise his confusion.
He is still not talking in sentences, and he has also learned his letters and sounds, and he can now write his name.
I wanted to tell you, that your son eye contact will improve greatly, and his speech will also improve, all you need to do is switch of the TV. That's what I did and over 4 weeks my son has improved.
All the best

My son is 3 in a month and I am pretty much in the same boat as you guys. The thing is we live with my parents and they speak Burmese to him and my husband and I speak English to him so he speaks English and BUrmese + gibberish even then he can only asks things like "Mummy, food. Yum yum?" "mummy, gimme." "mummy, sit" "mummy look at that. Plane." while looking at the plane in the sky. He can count to 20 but misses a few and can sing a to z and again half is gibberish. He can sing along to "hush little baby" and "twinkle twinkle litter star"

When he wants something to eat or drink he can say "mummy, water" or "mummy, drink" He knows some manners too. He'll say "thank you" when he wants to and He will say "I love you" well he can say "I you you" and when I reply He will "I you more" meaning I love you more. And then when he wants something he said "mummy, good boy." Then when I went to the doctors a few months ago, he said come back when he's 3 and not to worry too much because each child develops differently but that was a few months ago and 3 days ago, my best friend mentioned how she thinks he might be a little slow in speech department so last few days I had been worried and made an appointment to see a specialist. I wonder if being bilingual has anything to do with him being slow because he to me seem to be quite smart but his father had/has dyslexia.

He is quite hyperactive too. And he does love watching TV. He always tells me to turn on TV for his favourite shows.

My son is 3 in a month and I am pretty much in the same boat as you guys. The thing is we live with my parents and they speak Burmese to him and my husband and I speak English to him so he speaks English and BUrmese + gibberish even then he can only asks things like "Mummy, food. Yum yum?" "mummy, gimme." "mummy, sit" "mummy look at that. Plane." while looking at the plane in the sky. He can count to 20 but misses a few and can sing a to z and again half is gibberish. He can sing along to "hush little baby" and "twinkle twinkle litter star"

When he wants something to eat or drink he can say "mummy, water" or "mummy, drink" He knows some manners too. He'll say "thank you" when he wants to and He will say "I love you" well he can say "I you you" and when I reply He will "I you more" meaning I love you more. And then when he wants something he said "mummy, good boy." Then when I went to the doctors a few months ago, he said come back when he's 3 and not to worry too much because each child develops differently but that was a few months ago and 3 days ago, my best friend mentioned how she thinks he might be a little slow in speech department so last few days I had been worried and made an appointment to see a specialist. I wonder if being bilingual has anything to do with him being slow because he to me seem to be quite smart but his father had/has dyslexia.

He is quite hyperactive too. And he does love watching TV. He always tells me to turn on TV for his favourite shows.

Hi katarashantanu & rathika,

My son will be 3 tomorrow & is a replica of the characters mentioned by katarashantanu above. His evaluation is on 8 sept next month. He has all the sounds except for R. He recognizes all the upper case alpha as well as some lower case. Can count till 20. Can count from 1-10 in spanish(thanks to dora & deigo).but yeah all the above are not very clearly understood.He can only make 2 word sentence, which are used on him everyday e:g more water, more chips, get downetc. He is not interested in playing with other kids except his sister. He is very attached to me. He cannot answer questions.sometimes he says NO appropriately, but there is never a YES for anything, like you wrote, if we ask "do u want banana? he will say "anana".I am going crazy everday by thinking about the result.

Could you please let me know, how they are doing now. Is there any improvement? Have they diagnosed with something (God forbid)?

Hi! What is the update with your children? This all sounds like my son as well. He does everything you mentioned above and he is 4 1/2 now. We just relocated from another country and I'm afraid the move made his behavior worse.

I went to my son's peadiatrician and he referred me to speech pathology and his speech was up to date but his language was behind by a 6-12 months. He is now 3 years and 8 months old so he's received speech therapy for his language delay once every 2 weeks and he's improving. The paed told me to cut down sugar and dairy so I did and started giving him fish oil. He has also started going to daycare 3 days a week to interact with other kids. Whenever I pick him up though, he is still playing on his own. The carer told me that he wouldn't initiate to play with other kids but if others play with him that's fine with him. However he plays really well with his 3 cousins and always asking for them. His vocabulary is huge. Sometimes he would say "OH MY GOODNESS" and once he said to a carer "Look Miss Becca, I found a screw". THe speech therapy has asked me to talk to him in 3 words phrases instead of long sentences even tough he understands them and that repetition is good. For example if your son/daughter asks "water?" or point at it. You say "Juice?" your child may shake his head or say "no" Then you say "Want water?" he may nod his head or say yes. Then you keep saying "Want water?" or "I want water?" then he will repeat. Repetition is important. I've asked both his pead and the speech pathologist if my son maybe autistic and they both said no. He's had a cat scan and a blood test and they were all clear. But I still want a proper diagonis just so I know he doesn't have it but to be able to do that, I need serious concerns from his carers or my parents or my husband and reports from carers, speech pathologist etc... to get benefits from the government to receive therapies etc... I can get a private diagnosis but if I want to use the services Early Developmental Unit offer, I need those.

Chefnola, at 4 1/2, I would get a paediatrician look at him as early intervention is best.