To think most nearly 3 year olds would be able to answer this?

Appreciate this is an old thread but I wonder if you could update us. How is your child now ? Did they need speech therapy? Are they showing signs of ASD ?

My DD had full on conversations at 2 and was very articulate and inquisitive but one of my nephews barely spoke. My sister took him to the dr at 3 1/2 as she was so worried. Now he's in his 20s and he's an articulate intelligent young man, has a fantastic job, wonderful gf. I think most of the time it levels out by the time they're 6,7ish. They just all learn in their own time.

My DS at almost 3 would just yell single words at random. My DD at almost 3 has specified that she would like a paddington bear birthday cake in October for her birthday with a strawberry flavour hat.

Both completely neurotypical and bright kids. My son is flying through school with no issues. Just wasn't terribly communicative in the early days 😅

I think most children can hold a conversation at 3 albeit a little disjointed.

I don’t think many 3 year olds can give you much info regarding illness.

I don’t really understand the reluctance given he is behind. Might not be anything but would you not rather know?

My older son could’ve, my younger is still pre-verbal at 5.

Do you have any other concerns?

Sounds quite like my son. If I asked what did you do today? He would reply with an in depth story about a random tv episode he watched weeks ago.

look into receptive language difficulties https://www.creativetherapyassociates.ca/receptive-language-delays#:~:text=Children%20with%20receptive%20language%20delays,age%2Dappropriate%20vocabulary%2Fconcepts.

I also saw lots of similarities in early signs of dyslexia https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/children/is-my-child-dyslexic/signs-of-dyslexia-early-years

Just suggestions based on my son. Could also just be a bit behind and will catch up.

Best to get his hearing tested as a first port of call. They wouldn’t consider him for speech therapy until that had been done anyway.

If you're worried about his speech you need to get onto your HV for a referral ASAP. There are massive waits - my DD had been under them since age 2 (now 6 and got discharged earlier this year) but she probably only had maybe 10 appointments in 3 years (and only 3 that were in person).
She probably wouldn't have been able to tell me at that age, she was already under SALT at this point though. I asked for the referral at her 2 year check and had to wait 5 months to be assessed.
His speech might be fine, however if you leave it another couple of months you could potentially be sat here in another 12 months waiting to be seen.

Speech and language therapy is not just about speech. Language also covers comprehension, does he understand what is being asked? Can he follow through? Can he retain information? Can he make connections (eg show him a pic of someone putting on their wellies or holding an umbrella, or being wet. If you ask him what the weather is… could he deduct that it must be raining?
it takes a long time to get referred (9 months for is), and even if it is improving at that stage… still go. They help you with exercises on how to work on his issues

This is all within the remit of a speech therapist, they don't only deal with children who don't speak. Children who lack understanding or the ability to produce appropriate speech are also in their wheelhouse (at least as a first step, you may be referred on elsewhere if deemed necessary).

You want to speak to your HV/GP and then a speech therapist, that's the order of things.

Speak to nursery. Mine couldn’t at 3, and we thought that he was just not as advanced as his brother (who would give very detailed facts about his favourite dinosaurs at that age). But nursery actually raised with us that they thought his language was behind, they then worked with the borough’s senco, who referred us to a language specialist. Language specialist agreed and referred to school (by that point he was about to start school). We did a lot of work around comprehension. Trust your gut, better to start intervention early so that by school age, he will be able to keep up (mine received a daily 15 min 1:1 intervention in Reception and by year 1 is where he should be for phonics, writing etc).

I think they vary hugely at this age. My eldest was talking very early and could have proper conversations with her very early on. Youngest is totally different, she took a long time to say any words and it's only recently at 3.5 that we have proper chats as such. She surprises us quite a lot with sentences she suddenly comes out with as she didn't before. I wouldn't be hugely concerned.

at that age my son couldn’t. He was probably about 4 when he could tell me hiss ear hurt. He’s recently been diagnosed with receptive language disorder. He has good vocabulary but can really struggle to process questions and answer them appropriately.

my daughter is 2.5. She could answer these questions but maybe need prompts e.g. who did you play with today? Silence. Prompt: Bella? Response: no not Bella, Hudson. Etc etc.

My 6 year old can't reliably say where hurts. I don't think they can pinpoint pain that accurately. She told me her ears were sore and she had a headache when she had tonsillitis (I think those things were true but her tonsils would have been extremely painful and she never mentioned her throat). She is doing fine at school

There is no definitive answer to this OP.
One of my kids would have been giving a running commentary of her every thought, while another was barely able to say recognisable single words at that age. They're both developmentally average now.

If you think something is off, speak to a hcp about it. You know your child. You might just be worrying about nothing, and you will be reassured to have some answers.

My 6 yr old had a speech disorder. At 3, he could only make noises. But he was a great communicator in other ways, gestures and actions. He always knew what I meant and I knew what he meant. By 5 his speech was 90% understandable and now at 6 it's within normal.

Can your son follow instruction? Can he find his shoes? Pass the remote? Point to the red one? Put his ball under the table? Put his spoon on his plate? Those kind of things?

Have you referred him for speech and language therapy? Have you spoken to the health visiting team?

Alternatively, if you can afford it, I'd highly recommend a private speech therapist (as NHS has huge waiting lists).

My son is four next month and still can barely speak. He says a lot of words but it’s barely distinguishable unless you know him and know what he’s saying, such as myself who's with him 24/7. He often gets frustrated as he’s very intelligent and knows what he’s trying to say/communicate but cannot get it across. It was unfortunately never flagged at his last nursery so I thought things were fine and that children learn at different stages - but where he started his new nursery luckily they’re starting the process of speech therapy.

Ds1 didn't really have any language until he was 3, he has decent A levels now.

Ds2 used to say he felt sick when he was tired until he was about 4yo. Currently at a RG uni

Boys are much later with language IME. I well remember applauding DS1 for saying "ball" only for his playmate, a girl a couple of weeks younger to say "where's the other ball?" 😆

My youngest couldn’t speak a single word until after her third birthday. At 4.5 now, you’d have no idea and she is scarily clever. Seriously, try not to worry too much. Maybe keep a diary of examples for the next six months but really (I’m a Mum of seven), I’d say that’s pretty standard.

My son is 4 and a half and has autism and couldn't even answer a question in single words until this past year even though his vocabulary started expanding at 3, it was non-receptive language.

He is coming on in leaps and bounds with conversation now, but sounds like your son OP from when he was that age.

I'd ask for a referral personally.