Hi, I am a new member and I am desperate!
My 3 year old son does not answers any question when asked, he would follow simple commands, like: "sit down" "Filippo eat now" "time to sleep", but if you ask him"did you have fun in school today?" he does not answer, if you ask him: con you get me your cup?" he does not answer and he does not get it to me. The problem is not even the hearing because he says a lot of sentences of three words, he says all the letters, colors, shapes, sounds of letters, body parts, all the milestone, and the cognitive development characteristics are there, in school his teacher is not concerned with anything really but she agrees with me that he does not really answer to questions, although he follows routines and he is sociable, happy, active, playful and imitates and repeats songs and riddles, any Idea?

Maybe your son needs more stimulating conversations! Stop asking him questions he can just nod or shake his head to. Make sure nobody answers for him... EVER... and ask him more open-ended questions. If he can speak, sing, play, imitate, and is sociable and happy, encourage TALK by showing him HOW. Model good conversation skills, ask open ended questions that require more than one or two word answers (Would you please sing me a song that you learned in school today? Why did the teacher do that? How did you do that?), and don't respond to any of his one or two word demands (ie: milk, cup, night-night). If he says "Milk" and points to the milk, say "Do you want milk? Then say I want milk please." If he doesn't, then just smile and say, "Oh, sorry! I thought you wanted milk! When you do, you can say "I want milk please." and then walk away. If you are diligent he will begin to expand his vocabulary. Generally speaking, they know it, they just find the point where they NEED to use it.

Good luck! I'd love to hear how he does after a few weeks of consistently using these little tricks!

Didi

I was waching a thing about this just yesterday does he ever have his eyes roll back in his head or does he ever rock himself back and forth

Thank you for answering to my post, dear suicidal addiction, the answer to your question, if he ever roll his eyes back or rock himself is no, he does not, those are characteristics of autistic kids and my son does not look or behave like an autistic kid he seems absolutely normal except for the fact that he does not answer any question, sometime when I ask him the same question more than ones, to make a point for him to answer, the most that I get from him is a smile that looks almost like:"I know I am suppose to say something but I am not going to!" it almost seems like he is making fun of me. I don't know as I said I am desperate!

Go to the school and sit and watch his class and find out if he is getting picked on because my son did the shame thing until I sat at The school and he started talking but it could also help if you set and talk with him for an hour.

I will try that, thanks BOE, but I don't think the school is an issue, everybody love him, he is a very sweet happy baby, he just does not answer to any question, he simply ignores you, but then if you show him a routine or tell him to do something he would do that, but I fyou ask him do you like this toy, do you want to go to the park? Black out no reaction.
I don't know

Thanks for your private message, Pippi. From what you have said it really sounds like he is choosing not to answer your questions. He is happy, he speaks when he wants to, he sings, he plays with other children, he hears, etc. You say he smiles like he knows he should answer but he's thinking "I'm not going to." It almost sounds like he's just being a little stubborn and willful. Perhaps he senses your distress and gets more attention for not responding than responding?

Anyhow, if you are REALLY concerned about it, then you should probably speak to your family doctor, and if you are not comfortable with his/her opinion have him/her refer you to a pediatrician.

It really doesn't sound like a serious problem though. A lot of children (especially bright ones) don't do any serious talking until they want or need to.

Hugs, Didi

HI, Didi thank you so much, your message is really reassuring, and with your experience with children with disability It really means a lot to me, I have an appointment with a child behavioral psycologist on march 8th, I will keep you posted!!
pippi

You are so welcome! I look forward to hearing what the psychologist has to say. Thank you.

Hugs, Didi