A non chatty 3 year old.

LegacyUser

I'm a little worried about the development pace of my wife's nephew. He recently turned 3 years of age, and physically he's a healthy energetic child. I am concerned that he barely speaks, and when he does his words are barely mono-syllabic with no sentences and a very limited vocabulary. He rarely sits still, and he is as likely to throw his toys as play with them.

On the positive side, he is affectionate towards his parents and doesn't seem to mind being in the company of lots of people. However I do find that he rarely looks at you when you try to talk to him, and when you call his name he doesn't really respond.

Maybe I'm over-reacting, and I don't want to freak his mother out if this isn't a genuine source of concern. We've no kids, so I haven't got any frame of reference other than memories of how my siblings were at that age. He will be starting school in September 2011, so this is probably something that needs to be dealt with by then.

metrovelvet

For all you know, he's in speech therapy. Im sure the phn would have had him referred.

LegacyUser

He isn't receiving any speech therapy, though I think at this stage it would be a benefit to him.

limklad

You need to do a simple hearing test. It sounds like he either deaf or partly deaf. Click your fingers behind his head to see if the respond. Try doing this with different sounds and intensity. use simple sounds from mobile phone or banging spoons or say boo mildly when he looks away to gauge his reaction.

Beware he might react to your presence so you need to have your hands on his blind side outside his Peripheral vision. so you have to do this a few times to confirm this. Remember you can get false positive results, so repeat at different times when he does not expect it. Smile when he reacts.

Ickle Magoo

Some kids just aren't very chatty. My son would speak only a couple of words when he was 2-3.5 and was referred to a speech therapist by the PHN - turns out he has an excellent level of comprehension - which is the only bit that matters apparently - he just chose not to talk very much. Roll on a couple of years and the wee man is a complete chatterbox.

I'd say your sister should have a word with her sibling before you jump in with click testing yourself, he's their charge and as such, I'm sure they would be well aware of any potential issues. I know I used to try my hardest to coax the wee man to talk more. It could even be a case of him being very quiet around people who he doesn't know very well and a chatterbox at home.

There often seems to be an endless stream of childless people only too willing to tell parents what their child should or should not be doing, I know you have the child's best interests at heart but for obvious reasons, tread carefully. Best of luck.

smelltheglove

newbieWW wrote: »

I'm a little worried about the development pace of my wife's nephew..

are his parents worried? Have they mentioned any health visits?

Some kids are just shy, some take longer talking, I assume he is an only child and often first children develop a little slower. My daughter is 3 with a cousin born the same week, her speech is much better than her cousins but there is nothing wrong with him. He would most likely improve lots by the time he starts playschool.

It's nice that you are concerned but are you alone in those concerns? This really should be a matter for his parents and I think if you feel your concerns are ligitimate then you should discuss this with then.

deisemum

Public Health Nurses would normally carry out development checks at 3 years of age and then refer children on to be checked if they suspect something. He may have or is due to have his development check in the near future.

Some children who are talkative can clam up in the company of others and some are shy. I was 3 months in junior infants before I spoke my first word in school and that was to say anseo for the roll call. My younger lad who was well able to talk decided not to talk the day of his 3 years development check. Instead he pointed at things that he wanted and grunted. I think the PHN doubted me when I said he was tired (which he was) and that he was well able to talk so she came back a few days later.

He chatted away no bother to her and when she was leaving he followed her out to the door and clearly said "goodbye you f'ing ejeet" She tried not to laugh and said she had no worries about his speech.

Some parents do not like other family members knowing if there are any concerns regarding their children.

Maybe your sister could enquire if he's had his development check.

LegacyUser

deisemum wrote: »

Public Health Nurses would normally carry out development checks at 3 years of age and then refer children on to be checked if they suspect something. He may have or is due to have his development check in the near future.

Some children who are talkative can clam up in the company of others and some are shy. I was 3 months in junior infants before I spoke my first word in school and that was to say anseo for the roll call. My younger lad who was well able to talk decided not to talk the day of his 3 years development check. Instead he pointed at things that he wanted and grunted. I think the PHN doubted me when I said he was tired (which he was) and that he was well able to talk so she came back a few days later.

He chatted away no bother to her and when she was leaving he followed her out to the door and clearly said "goodbye you f'ing ejeet" She tried not to laugh and said she had no worries about his speech.

Some parents do not like other family members knowing if there are any concerns regarding their children.

Maybe your sister could enquire if he's had his development check.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. If he is due a development check, then the PHN will spot anything out of the ordinary. He was in hospital lately and apparently one of the nurses asked if he was ADHD, which got me worried.

Anyway - as has been pointed out, I don't have kids myself and I definitely don't want to interfere.

Nevyn

If that is a possiblity usually it will be picked up on once he starts school and he will be refered for an assessment. Kids to day do live in a faster paced more hyper interactive world then what a lot of use grew up in and some have to be taught to sit still and focus and have a conversation, to connect with others as they have gotten so used to just doing thier own thing.

Sleepy

Are you sure he's not just shy around you OP?

LegacyUser

Sleepy wrote: »

Are you sure he's not just shy around you OP?

I don't think so - he likes to play with me, and he's far from shy. He's as unchatty with his grandparents and the rest of the family too.