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I am in no way an expert on child speech development, I pretty much can only share where my own child is. DS is 2.5 next month and we've been evaluating his speech at home as part of a questionnaire for daycare. He mostly speaks in 4 words sentences, but we did hear a 5 word one and a 7 word one this morning.

A portion of his speech is unintelligible to others. Maybe 10-25%? He has certain mispronunciations, like the "ch" sound. So school comes out like "gool" and started saying chocolate, which sounds more like "cockit".

He doesn't speak in gibberish ever, except for one word that he thinks sounds funny. It sounds kind of like dadadoodoo and he laughs afterwards, so I think it's his version of a joke.

I know some kids are faster or slower than others, so I hope he catches up :(. Or maybe your SIL can be convinced to get some extra help for him, but if she's super opposed she might not be very motivated to keep up with appointments and such.

Seems delayed to me. My LO is only 20 months but is starting to put together simple "sentences" like "daddy airplane work" or "mommy here shoes"

I feel bad for him. He needs to be advocated for so he gets the services that can help him. He must be awfully frustrated if he can't communicate his needs!

While it does sound like something I would worry about, I'd be extremely careful with how you approach her about it. No one wants to hear that their child is lacking or delayed in any way, and though you think you're helping, you may get an unexpected reaction from her.

I have a friend who has a child who was delayed, and is borderline autistic. She got him evaluated and has speech, occupational, and physical therapy for him, but she's extremely sensitive to others "letting her know" that he's delayed. It doesn't sound as if your SIL is getting your nephew services today, but just be sensitive to how you're "letting her know" you're concerned.

Yes, he is delayed. And sometimes kids "grow out of delays", but it depends on the reason for the delay. It would be a fantastic idea to at least get his hearing checked. I once had a foster child whose mom rarely took him to the doctor...his eardrums had ruptured so many times from undiagnosed/untreated ear infections that he had almost completely lost his hearing, and it caused a speech delay and articulation issues.

I look at it this way, if his mom is going to do anything about it, she is already doing it and doesn't need anyone else telling her. If she's not going to do anything about it, chances are she will only view this kind of interjection as a negative knock.

I get it, you want to help, but I'd stay out of it.

@Jackiedavis87: as a parent and preschool teacher, that sounds like a delay to me, potentially a significant one. Sometimes kids do "grow out of it" without any intervention, but I feel like that's more the exception. You're right to worry about him not getting any help until he goes to school. Speech is such a huge deal and the foundation for literacy development, so getting services earlier is always better.

However, if she doesn't visit the pediatrician even for well-visit check-ups, and she argues with her husband about his concerns, there's likely not much you can do to get her to have him evaluated. I think the best you can do is try to understand him the best you can and listen closely to him to see if you can pick up his speech patterns (like saying the "b" sound for the "f" sound, etc). Also, if he seems frustrated when trying to speak to you, you can gently acknowledge that "I'm so sorry I don't know what you're telling me. It's very hard to not be understood. Can you show me/point to it/tell me again?"