My half sister, to be specific, has a son who will be three next month. There is no question that his speech is delayed, although his doctor presented my sister with a very liberal baseline (two or more words strung together) many months ago and she’s clinging to that. There are a number of pretty basic things he can’t or won’t do. They include saying his name, responding to his name, saying his age or holding up two fingers when you ask him his age. Even words like “Grammy” and “Papa” are not clear. My son is named Matt and my nephew adores him and calls him “Mom” because he can’t or won’t say “Matt”. After spending time with him and with some children a bit younger than him I noticed that while he smiles and makes frowny faces, he kind of has a blank look in his eyes. He’s clearly not deaf. Worth mentioning is the fact that he was four weeks early and his mother’s diabetes was very poorly controlled during her pregnancy. His father’s intelligence appears to be a bit limited, also. For real, not just because we’re in-laws.
Currently his mother and I are the only extended family living in this area. We work hard to be cordial and supportive. Her husband is semi-estranged from his family. I know that she is quite firmly in denial and would not be open to any suggestion that she get him tested. It would cause a great deal of trouble if I suggested it. Even though he will be of the right age, he will not be in a part-time pre-school this fall. He broke his leg over the winter and now my sister isn’t ready to even be apart from him for a few hours a week due to the lost “fun” time.
And yet, he’s not so bad off that early intervention wouldn’t make a great deal of difference. She knows all about this due to experience at work and through her best friend, who has a very disabled child.
It’s such a disservice to the child to let him continue without at least being tested, but I really don’t know what to do. Any thoughts?