This Is More for My Brother than Me

I agree with Katie J. I'd suggest a hearing and speech assessment. My son has hearing loss and has worked with speech therapists in the past. The earlier you get this done the better. As others have said, speech issues only get worse NOT better with time. He will have a difficult time academically as well as socially if this is not addressed.

go to one of your local elementary schools and have them give you the propaganda showing what is necessary for a child to be ready for kindergarten or pre k.
give that to your brother to share with his wife, maybe they will notice that the child needs a lot of work before being ready for school and she will then seek out some assistance.

Here in IL the public schools have early childhood screenings where they evaluate children's skills to determine if early intervention is needed. If so, it is provided by the school for free. Many young children need speech and language intervention, and then they are fine. Some children with speech delays might be on the autistic spectrum. I would find out if the schools in your / their area do an early childhood screening and then let her know about it. Has he been seeing a pediatrician? I would think the doctor would have recommended something by now! Has he at least had a hearing test? Hearing loss can really impact a child's speech. Good luck!

Most school districts have either what is called kindergarten readiness or early childhood assessments to determine if children are performing at at, above or below their development to see if the school district needs to help either develop a gift, assist with a delay, assist with speech, or if they can wait til kindergarten. It's really not about saying your kid is bad just an assessment. Dad could call the school board office in his town and ask when they are and schedule a time and take the day off and take him.

Have you talked to your brother?

In school they will screen him and if there is a problem they will get him referrals.
Has he been to his well child checkups? THey should have caught any delays by now.

It sounds like your nephew is in need of intensive language therapy. You can encourage your brother to write a letter to his school district requesting a complete evaluation through the preschool special education supports. If they elect not to address it now, the school WILL initiate the referall process in the fall. Parents can always decline, but in all honesty that rarely happens. The school psychologist and classroom teacher will request regular meeting to discuss the issue and most parents (eventually) come to see the concern and allow the testing.

The child needs to be evaluated by a speech therapist. Most offer it for free. If Mom fights it just let her know that it will rule out any problems and it's always good to hear how good a child is doing. Sounds like she's in denial and that will only harm her child's progress. If Dad thinks he needs it he doesn't need Mom's premission to get him evaluated. It's best to get therapy for speech as early as possible. The longer they wait the longer therapy will take. The therapists are experts and will be able to spot if this is a speech thing or if there is a physical problem with the shape of the mouth of tongue, which is good to know early as well.

Two of my sons needed real speech therapy.

My second son, now 15, had a lateral lisp. I didn't realize there was such a proiblem because I understood what he was saying because I was with him all the time. I understood his grunts and "words". My neighbors never understood him and I just figured they didn't know him well enough. But when my husband said that he didn't even understand him then I knew he may have a problem. By his 3rd birthday we had him tested and learned that he had a lateral lisp. It wasn't a frontal lisp like Cindy Brady where the tongue presses against/through the front of the teeth. A lateral lisp is where the tongue flattens out and has a lot of saliva and spit like Sylvester the Cat. So he needed specific help to train his tongue to curl to be able to say certain letters and sounds. He had speech from age 3, into early preschool and preschool and through most of elementary school. He progressed quickly but needed to be seen once a week at school to be sure he wasn't going backwards as some kids do.

My 6 year son needed speech therapy from age 2-5. He had a delay and went to a weekly preschool group with other kids like him and picked up quickly! He still has a slight delay but he does not qualify for therapy as it as not 25% or more, so we just work with him at home with reminders.

It's bettter now to get the help as any teasing will be minimal at this age. The kids will be confused before they start teasing at age 5 in kindergarten. But as kids get older they can start teasing so get the help now. It also will interfere with his learning if his speech is not correct, which is the biggest problem and self esteem can go down the toilet.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

My aunt is a speech therapist. She works with kids who have all kinds of issues and from her training she will tell you that these things don't get better with age in fact they will get worse as the child gets older. However if you get the child intervention the earlier the better this does not have to be true. Maybe you could approach the issue with offering to take him for an evaluation. Tell her that you aren't sure but you think something may be wrong and you just want a professional to evaluate it. Maybe you could even print out guidelines of what a 4 year old should be doing at his age and leave it with her so she can read it over and this way it isn't your opinion it's experts advice. I hope for his sack that she seeks help for him. Just b/c his speech is slow doesn't mean that he is slow or that something is wrong with him it just might mean that he needs a little more help. The younger he is when you start the better for everyone.

Good luck

I would have his hearing checked first and foremost. If his hearing comes up fine, I would see if there is another reason that his speech is not coming along. At four, I think there is a problem.

Hmm. .. makes me wonder about your nephew's hearing, but assuming he's been to regular dr. appts. then that must be ruled out. What does his pediatrician say? In any event, when he gets to kindergarten your sister in law won't be able to ignore it any longer because the school won't.

Updated

Hmm. .. makes me wonder about your nephew's hearing, but assuming he's been to regular dr. appts. then that must be ruled out. What does his pediatrician say? In any event, when he gets to kindergarten your sister in law won't be able to ignore it any longer because the school won't.

get a speech evaluation. they can help diagnose and help him. The school system will also pull him out for speech help. also get his hearing checked. I always thought my son heard fine until they did the eval and found he could hear almost nothing.

You might let your brother know (in a gentle way) about your concerns. Our duty as parents is to get our kids what they need when they need it. (Food, sleep, care, etc.) Language therapy also fits into that category. Approach it from the "sooner-the-better" angle. They may have waited too long, but it's never too late! Next year will only n=be a year of missed opportunity!