My son turns 3 at the end of June. He is smart, kind, silly, loving and playful. However he tends to be more reserved in public settings/away from home like at his grandmas house or at school. His reserved nature coupled with how little he chooses to talk (compared to when he’s home) and combined with some comparison has lead my mother to have concerns he’s delayed.
He has been evaluated by more than one SLP and also gets quarterly assessments conducted by his daycare. He has always scored “meets expectations” and “exceeds expectations” on his school evals and in his most recent speech eval a month ago was rated “low end of average”, which I was told by the SLP does not mean below average. Average, but on the lower end of that spectrum. He scores highly on the 36 month ASQ and no medical professional has ever raised concerns, but I can’t help but be a little troubled by my mothers concerns and by comparisons I confess I’ve made when I see/hear other toddlers his age.
He uses 2-4 word phrases. Examples include “me eat crackers please” “I don’t want it” “me have it/some” “he fell down” “me drop it” “suns in my eyes” “there it is” “you/I did it” “pee pee on the potty” “I tired” “take a nap” “wash your hands” “I try”.
He doesn’t yet use phrases beyond about 4 words max.
He is able to easily express his needs verbally and tells us “me hungry” “me eat” “milk please” “help me” “poo poo potty” “bathroom” “room” “downstairs” “upstairs” “naptime” “read it” “watch ___ video” etc., he’s just not using complex or long sentences. Though he’s able to ask for exactly what he wants and requests foods, drinks, toys, shows and songs by name.
He knows and can identify by sight: all primary colors of the rainbow, numbers 1-15, 90% of the letters of the alphabet. If I ask him what letter Apple starts with, he will tell me A. He will stack 2 circles and then say “8!” He will flip a 6 upside down and say “9” and vice versa. He can actually count a correct quantity of things like 6 crackers if there are 6 crackers. He also knows the names and sounds of many animals, knows his name and will point and excitedly say his name if he sees himself in the mirror or in photos, knows names of family members and friends and can even identify friends he played with at daycare when asked.
He answers questions like “what do you want to eat” what did you do at school today?” (Answer: “outside… slide… have fun”) “why are you out of bed” (answer: “I pooped” or “hug”) “where is the red truck” (answer: “right there!”) “Who did you play with at school?” He also understands and follows complex instructions such as “take your shirt off, put it in you laundry and come sit down.”
He is fully daytime potty trained and tells us when he needs to go to the potty. Excitedly announces “pee pee in the potty! Flush? Wash hands?” When he’s done.
He’s become very assertive and will say “no bedtime” “no wait a minute”, etc.
He loves to be social. Makes great eye contact, prefers to play with others. He loves to sing and dance and will say “mommy’s” to imply “mommy’s turn”/loves taking turns and interacting. He is good at mimicking something he sees first, will run to show his dad or I something he thinks is cool and will say “look at that!” And has always looked to us for comfort in new environments or situations. He has preferred playmates at school and loves to play with his older cousin.
He LOVES pretend play. He cooks and feeds stuffed animals, pretends to sleep and then wake up, pretends his stuffed animals are going to the potty, pretends he spilled an imaginary drink on me and then says “uh oh spill! Towel? Shirt” and wipes my shirt where the “spill” occurred.
However, he doesn’t use the actual words “what/when/where/how” to ask questions. He will instead use a single word like “school” to guess where we’re going or “pasta” to guess what’s for dinner.
He loves to say “hi” to anyone and everyone but then doesn’t know how to keep the conversation going. He can answer “what’s your name” but not “how old are you.”
He will say “mad” “sad” “frustrated” “crying” to identify the emotions of himself or others.
He answers yes or no questions accurately and knows what he wants/doesn’t want when asked.
I guess my concern would be that I do hear other kids his age, like his classmates at daycare, speak in fuller sentences like “can I have more snack please teacher?” “Hi _____’s mom! Where is ____?”
He also has a cousin who is almost 4.5 and is pretty advanced. His cousin was saying things like “titi is mommy’s sister” at 3.5 years old and always spoke almost like an adult. I know that my mother is comparing the two and is also comparing my son to the way my siblings and I developed 20+ years ago when the CDC milestone guidelines were completely different.
I guess I’m wondering where are other 3 or almost 3 year olds at? Am I paranoid about a delay, or is there some legitimate concern about how short his sentences are the continued use of single words some of the time? Anyone have a similar story and then everything end up ok/child appear to have caught up with peers?