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

[Justtrytorelax]

I’m getting slowly more concerned about my DS (2 years 10 months.) I have been worried for a while regarding his speech and language. He talks a lot but little makes sense.

To give an example today after nursery I noticed a bite on his shoulder. I asked who did it and he didn’t answer then said ‘yeah.’

Another example if you ask him if he feels unwell he will sometimes say yes but doesn’t understand what you mean I don’t think. He can’t say his ear hurts or he feels sick or whatever? I don’t know, I suppose I just assumed by almost 3 he’d be able to have conversations of sorts?

I can’t with my 3 year old.

If he falls over say a toy at home and hurts himself he might say what happened, but if it happened at nursery he would forget by the time I asked him.

He was ill with temperature this week. Obviously had headache or earache but just cried when I asked him where, and calmed down after calpol. If he hurt knee falling he could show where

My daughter is 2y9m and would be able to answer those questions. She can hold a conversation and talks in full sentences. It does really vary among her friends though- maybe ask nursery what they think as they'll have a lot of experience of the typical range for this age.

My son could answer that but often won't answer questions like that.

The first one is tricky as he may not remember if it was a while ago.

The second one, my 2 year old will often say if he's poorly or has a sore leg or whatever but sometimes he won't.

The kinds of things he will reliably answer would be things like what do you want to do today or which toy do you want to play with.

He can have a conversation about the weather or about a tractor he can see or concrete things but would be hit and miss with more abstract topics. He's out just 2 but I think his speech is good for his age.

I mean mine talks non stop in full sentences. But if you asked him who bit him on his shoulder 2 hours ago at nursery he would probably say ‘yeah’ rather than a name

I don’t think these two examples are something to worry about at this age as they are both quite abstract concepts. One is asking him about something that happened hours ago. He will have forgotten all about it. Explaining how they feel / what feels bad / hurts etc is a difficult thing to explain.

Questions like “what would you like to eat?” “Who is your best friend” “what colour is this etc” are age appropriate questions he should be able to answer.

@OP Have you had his hearing checked?? does he answer to his name? if not i'd first see the GP.

He could answer the colour one but not the others. I asked him today who he played with and he said ‘car’ (he could see cars I think.) It’s the out of context stuff that worries me I think.

I would expect a conversation but I wouldn't expect total understanding or much memory at that age. Your first question may have been too long from when the bite happened to remember and for the second "unwell" seems a little complex in terms of language. Anecdotal from me though - I would ask nursery.

When my DD was nearly 4 she said her tummy hurt. Turned out she had a chest infection.

There's a lot of variation at that age though, most children will have good speech by 3.5 but at 2 some aren't there yet.. Is your son more of an active child - the ones who are good at physical things can be slower with speech and vice versa

Are you sure he didn’t mean he played with cars at nursery?

The out of context stuff does sound like maybe he isn’t understanding the question/concept and is just saying any word because he knows you expect an answer.

What do nursery think? I wouldn’t be panicking at this stage, just keeping an eye on it.

Totally normal… my 3yo tells me at least three girls in his class are called “poopy” because he doesn’t know their names.

He tells me absolutely nothing about his day. Sometimes they don’t want to be interrogated

DS is 3, talks in full sentences, huge vocabulary, but he can’t tell me anything about his day as he’s forgotten it by the time he gets home. You need to ask him questions in the moment.

My child did “hospitals” at nursery and his comprehension is all over the place. One moment he’ll say he’ll need a sticker (plaster) for his leg when there nothing wrong with it and next he’ll be kissing his snotty finger better. I normally have to guess what’s wrong tbh. Are you cold? No. Do you want a drink? No. Are you hungry? <slow nod>.

No he definitely didn’t mean that … he just shouts things a lot. It’s a bit odd. He is very active yes

I would expect a three year old to be able to hold a reasonable conversation and answer basic questions.

If he can't do this, I'd go and see your HV and get a referral for speech therapy. There's every chance he'll catch up while you're waiting to be seen, but doesn't hurt to be on the waiting list in case he doesn't.

My eldest talked fluently by 2.5. My youngest would have been similar at 2 yr 10 months but at 3 yr 2 months can suddenly talk in full sentences as you are expecting of your DS. I think they tend to have a leap in language at some point but it varies when. I'd give it a few months before you really worry but maybe talk to nursery about it if you're concerned.

I have a child the same age and they can tell me reasonably actually how they hurt themselves, who bit them, who they played with, but sometimes it's hit and miss. I'd say it depends on the consistency.

Would have been normal for my DS at that age. He's now 3.8 and it's a lot better but sometimes he still really doesn't remember who he played with or how he got hurt, things like that.

IME there's a massive range of "normal" speech at that age. Our nephew was really delayed but now he's a bright teen doing very well academically.

If he understands you when you say when you ask him to do things, and if the words he does have are increasing I wouldn't be worried tbh but a conversation with the GP or health visitor is never a bad idea.

Since he's in nursery ask them. They see so many children they have a great feel for what's typical.

It varies massively. My eldest was more like reception age before we got any meaningful response on what she’d done that day. My youngest seemed like she could answer questions like that from when she was really tiny (even before 2) in reality half the time she was telling you something entirely made up about what she’s been doing or what hurts while sounding plausible.

Have you considered nuerodivesity/ have there been other behaviours or not hitting milestones etc things that build a bigger picture? If not you can still refer for speech therapy for help. I think my son is on the spectrum and he is and was like that at that age. He is 4.5 now and his speech has come along but can't properly answer questions or talk like your normal 4 year old does

A lot of those examples in your OP are in the 3-4 age range in a language development milestones chart I’ve got.