[Ladyofmoonlight]

Our son is almost 3. Well, officially. According to his Dr he could very well be a bit younger, so basically he's anywhere in the 28-34 months range. He's also on his 3rd language now, he came home last November speaking bits of his native language from the Sidama region of Ethiopia, as well as a bit of Amharic and I think I heard some Italian thrown in there!

Anyway, he picks up words very quickly, can express himself and understand most things, he can do plurals and possessives, recognizes numbers and letters, is big on looking at books, is trying to write and tells me what letters/numbers/words he's "writing," etc. Our problem is that he doesn't say almost any phrases and most certainly hasn't ever said a sentence. Every now and then we get a "mommy, look!" or "Some please!" or "down there!" but typically he turns phrases into single words (like brownair for brown bear) and says words one at a time. One time he saw a bus coming and cried out "bus! here! comes!" And yes, it does sound like there's an exclamation point after a lot of his words.

I'm not sure if it's just that he's still processing English after having to process a first language and then a second language and then finally a third language, or if he might have any possible delays. He does not seem delayed in any other respect and actually appears quite bright to people who meet him (I, of course, think he's a little genius ). I've been of the "let's just see how this goes" mind but my husband and I are starting to worry about it now that he's nearing his official 3rd birthday.

So, if your almost-3-year-old (who could actually be an almost 2.5 year old) wasn't speaking in phrases yet but seemed to have everything else down, would you be worried? I really don't want to seek language therapy if we don't have to, but I keep hearing about kids at age 2 speaking in full sentences or meeting kids the same size as him that speak a mile a minute. I feel bad comparing him to others but I also don't want to gloss over something important!

Any advice would be appreciated
-Megan

[proudmum]

i dont have experience with children that have spoken other languages but our dd who is 3 yrs 4mnths has a speech disorder and she sees speech therapist weekly,,,, i would personally get him assessed by a speech therapist,, then at least they could ease your mind if everything is ok,,,, we knew something was not right at 2 but doctors kept telling us that speech therapist would not see dd till she was 3,,, we got there right on 3 and therapist told us that in dds case she should have been there from 2 1/2 ,,, so if you have any doubts i would seek medical advise,,, if he needs it then you have caught it early and can give him therapy before he heads off to school.
best of luck for you and your little guy
proudmum :-)