speech development

maxgran; he sounds just like my son, who is absolutely fine now. What was strange as he got older was that ,when speaking to him I sometimes didn't understand what he had said, and yet, if I spoke to him on the phone, I could. When he was little he used to get so frustrated, especially when I pretended to understand him, and he knew that I didn't.For some reason, he absolutely loved poetry when he was young; I bought him lots of poetry books about robots and things and read to him endlessly..not sure if it helped or not, but we both enjoyed it anyway. He always used to talk through me, because he knew people wouldn't understand what he said. Sometimes wonder if I could have done more to help him. I wish I'd known at the time that everything would be ok.

My grandson is 5 yrs old and just coming to the end of reception class at school. He still cannot speak properly. He made no attempt to speak until he was almost 4 years old and even now - only his mother and siblings can understand him. He makes sounds rather than words.
He is having all sorts of tests,.. Speech therapy for the last 2 years
( they are hopeless) He has seen a paediatrician who has ruled out Autism,.and hearing problems,... an educational psychologist who thinks he may have ADHD ( my daughter thinks that is incorrect) and also a neurologist who wants to now do a brain scan.

Despite all this - he gets on well at school and loves being there, however, as time goes on he will slip further and further behind if we cannot sort out what the problem is ! It is very frustrating.

I think it is quite common for girls to be far more eloquent than boys, but of course it is a worry for you. It will be interesting to see if nursery picks up on it as they are usually quite good at noticing these things. I think as grandparents we do worry perhaps more than necessary, but sadly we just have to bite our tongue and watch. Not easy

Good point Em. Ear infections so common in this age group.
Something I notice these days is that parents tend to answer for their children. Particularly the case with chatty, outgoing, verbal parents. Of course they don't know they are doing it. They are trying to be helpful.
e.g. Me: "Who is your friend in nursery?" Child opens mouth to speak but parent jumps in: "Lee and Lianne are your best friends aren't they darling?"

A neighbour recently expressed concerns about her son's slow speech development. I suggested hearing tests and it turns out that he is suffering 'glue ear' a condition I came across while teaching. He has already been referred and will undergo an op to have grommets inserted.
It's always a good idea to rule out hearing problems. After all if he can't hear, how does he know what he is trying to achieve

crimson, your son sounds like my youngest brother. When he was four only our mother, me (his elder sister by seven years), and his nursery teacher could understand him. It didn't hold him back.

Re. the other comments above about listening to experts, yes that's a good idea, but I do think people tend to worry too much and too early about what kids are 'supposed' to be able to do at certain ages. I think the modern approach to child-rearing is far too target based.

..apologies for grammar and spelling...

No one could understand what my son was saying and he used to get terribly frustrated by it. However, all of his friends understood him and, when he strated primary school his friends from play group would tell the teacher what he had said. I thought it would slow him down with reading etc, but it didn't. He did have speech therapy for years [can't say that helped] and a friend who was a speech therapist gave him exercises to do [think sometimes there are muscles in the mouth/tongue etc that need working on]. I was terribly worried at the time [my husband wasn't; he said he was late talking as well] but my main concern was that I felt I'd missed out on the lovely conversations one has with children of that age. As for his sister talking already, I've known one year old girls that you could have a proper [life the universe and everything] conversations with but, alas have never met a little boy who does so! My grandson is very late at doing everything..and then just does it; we concerned about his speech at one time but he doesn't stop talking now. Do think I'd over ride his father, though..think men tend to bury their heads in the sand a bit when it comes to problems like this with a sort of 'oh. it'll be ok' and a shrug of the shoulders. I assume his hearing has been checked? Keep us informed, please.

I would take the expert's advice. I know of children who missed certain stages of development through illness and needed help to catch up. It is important for a child to be able to communicate and be understood.

Children develop at different rates. Lots of nursery aged children cannot talk very clearly. You don't say whether you think he has a speech impediment or if he is just naturally quiet. Since the child's father is not concerned and the child's 'brightness' is obvious, I suggest you stop worrying.