A 3-Year-Old Does Not Use Pronouns, But Uses Her First Name When Asking For Something. What Should Parents Do?

July 1, 2009— -- Question: A 3-year-old does not use pronouns, but uses her first name when asking for something. What might this indicate to a parent?

Answer: All parents worry about speech development in young children. However most young children develop speech totally appropriately and there's no reason for concern. Children start to put words together somewhere between 18 months and two years. And shortly after that they start to use pronouns like "I, you" or "me".

As parents try to help toddlers understand the use of pronouns they actually confuse toddlers because a mom who is trying to explain something to her daughter may say, "Mommy is going bye-bye," when what she really means is, "I am going bye-bye". So children, toddlers in particular will actually model the behavior that their parents are exhibiting. It's important for parents to use pronouns appropriately, to read books to children such as "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" that utilize pronouns and to point to themselves the person or the object that they're referring when they use a pronouns and I can almost guarantee you that your toddler will follow suit.