3 yr old son may have a development delay

[dduggy]

My son has me concerned with his behavior.  He has always been a loud child and very affectionate as well as sensitive.  But lately he has become more aloof, his speech has become less frequent and he just resorts to screaming alot.  He seems to have some reasoning skills when spoken too and makes eye contact.  He can quote Kungfu Panda word for word with every expression but thats about it.  He also is very obsessive about what he wants and how things ought to be.  His motor and fine motor skills are very good and on par or somewhat advanced for his age group.  But when researching on intellect i found he acts like a two year old.  I used to get him to count, do some alphabet and name objects and foods but lately he has not done that.  Potty training has been very difficult because he doesnt seem to care nor communicate.  He has two little sisters (ages 2yrs ,6mnths) but he interacts very little with them.  He still gets very excited about being around older children or kids his age especially boys.

Now as far as his environment goes, we live with my In-laws, which is a bit stressful.  They are of the authortarian attitude toward children and thinks he just needs to be spanked.  But if it were up to them I feel he would be spanked way too much,  I have gotten in thier faces about that and they have backed down but the situation is tense at times.   My wife is busy with new baby and we have a 2 yr old daughter(who seems developmentally fine) also has to keep up her parents house.  I myself work full time and have not spent as much time as like with my son.  We are trying to move out so that may alleave some of the issue and I need to spend more time with him but he seems to be getting more and more behind.

Thanks for any response I know it is a lengthy post.

[allmymarbles]

A contributing factor may be the discord with your in-laws. It looks like there are two sets of rules. I would move out as soon as possible, and see if his development picks up once you are on your own.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Your son is showing some definite unevenness in his development. While his motor development appears to be intact, his cognitive development is not up to par, nor are his social and emotional development. Ask his pediatrician to refer him to a developmental pediatrician for an evaluation.