My 3 year old son says only single words even now.

When my son was that age, he was not talking in sentences, but, he was able to communicate by pointing, simple words and gestures. I understood him perfectly, but others thought there may be something wrong.

When he was about 3 1/2, all of a sudden he stated talking in full sentences. It was like it was all there, he just chose not to use speech until he was good and ready.

I have seen some amazing kids babble and talk a blue streak at age 3, and others struggle to get words out.

If you are concerned about the quality of the words, or his lack of them, why not have him assessed to put your mind at ease. I ended up doing that with my son, and although the words and sentences were there, he was not pronouncing very well. They gave me excercises to strengthen his use of letters properly, and it really worked.

I also found this:

Flow: It's perfectly normal for children around age 3 to have choppy, labored language. But somewhere between ages 3 and 4, your preschooler's thoughts should start to flow in more complete sentences with far less effort than he expended when he'd just turned 3. At this point, most of the time your child shouldn't have to stop and think about what to say or how to say it.

Speech problems | BabyCenter (http://www.babycenter.com/0_speech-problems_65591.bc)

My twin sister had the same problem. My mum told us that she didn't talk in full sentences until she was almost four while I could speak fine by the time I was three- I guess the process is different for every child so don't worry about it too too much, your son will speak in full sentences when the time is right for him

My little brother hardly said a word until he was almost 4, then one day he started talking and you couldn't shut him up! People thought there was something wrong then too, but he turned out just fine. 18, college student, part time job, the works. My son is 2 1/2 and just this past month started being a real mocking bird. He says everything we do (even what we shouldn't! ) He has 3-4 word sentences now. Sometimes even stutters a little because his little mouth doesn't work as fast as his brain yet, while my nephew will be three soon, he talks nonstop, but you can't understand much of what he says. I think boys especially are a little slower on language skills than girls.

Have your son assessed for language development, ask your pediatrician for a reputable place. If he understands everything, and can make himself understood for the most part, he is probably fine, just a little slower at making his voice heard.

I have been noticing that many kids, especially boys are not talking until around three to four years old.
One thing you need to do is when he wants something don't just hand it to him. Like he points to the cookie jar, take time to interact with him and try to get him to at least say cookie. As long as he is handed whatever he wants he most likely will decide he has no need to talk.

How true that is NOhelp4u.

Looking back, that was definitely one of the things I should have done, encourage him to talk, even a little bit. I was an expert at grunts.