Speech delays

My 3 year old niece will be 4 years old in 8 weeks. Her speech as well as her behavior seems quite delayed to me. She repeats the last word or words in a sentence. For example: Are you Hungry? She answers hungry. Do you want to go outside and play? She answers play. While she has several words that are clearly spoken most of her speech is very difficult to understand. Her social skills are delayed as well and she often cries and while she can be redirected she does not retain the information and will many times repeat the behaviors. She sings parts of songs she hears on tv but if I were to ask her to sing the Dora song she would simply repeat the word song. Is this normal behavior?

[William L. Holcomb, Ph.D., BCBA-D]

As you describe your niece, it does seem as though her speech and social behavior may be delayed.  Have her parents had her assessed by her pediatrician and/or her local educational authority (LEA)?  If a child is suspected of having developmental delays, they are entitled to a CORE evaluation by the LEA (usually the local school district) as soon as they reach the age of three years.  What you describe may be any number of potential problems or just a delayed development.  What do her parents think?  I always recommend that parents with any concern about their child’s development contact their pediatrician.  A child’s pediatrician is often the first contact in getting additional assessments and help, if that is needed.
For your reference, I have included a website link below to the National Institutes of Health that has a section on typical speech and language development.  It includes checklists that help you determine if your niece is “on track” with communication development as well as definitions and some explanations of potential speech and language developmental problems and what to do about them.  

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/speechandlanguage.html#mychild

I recommend you have a sensitive conversation with your niece’s parents and very gently explain your concerns.  I hope this is helpful.