Tone deaf?

My grandson will be three in Dec, we are raising him. He has had an ear test and passed, however he rarely talks, he uses his own sign language. When he does talk he never uses the first letter of any word. (We know there is some developmental delaying.) Is there such a thing as being tone deaf? Are there any test that can be done?

[jdtm]

Sounds more like developmental apraxia of speech - may I suggest you google "developmental apraxia" to see if this disorder more closely matches your grandson.  If so, you should be involved in speech therapy for the little fellow.

[misseshaynie]

  Get him in to speech- sounds like he has an articulation problem. My son has had this since he started talking. When he would say poop for instance, it would sound like "oop". He is getting better, but it has taken some time, and he will be in speech until middle school probably. He is just now starting to leave only certain consonants off words, but replacing them with something else. Call your local school and see what services they have to offer- I believe most places offer speeh for preschool ages...Hope this helped!

[kimberlymcghee]

My niece who is turning three this year is way behind in her speech skills. When i go to visit her she runs up to me and starts mubbling things i can't even try to understand. There is no way to make out the words. And she is always throwing toys at people, and when you tell her no its like she doesn't understand even if i get down to her level and look her straight in the eye. It's like she is lost. The second after i am done telling her she picks up something else and hits you with that. I am not sure of the steps that the family needs to be taking. I am not really sure if she is deaf or has autism or what??? Her mom refuses to get her checked and states that she is just fine. I want my niece to understand the world and to be comfortable. And so if there is something wrong i want to help her so that she isnt afraid anymore.