My youngest brother didn't talk until he was about 4, I think he could-just didn't. My grandbaby is two and says NOTHING.  She just started speech for this.

@Morningstarrising@xanga - Yeah, that's pretty much what I was going to say.

Jack was 2 before he started talking, properly and Finlay's almost 3 and still doesn't so much and I'm not sure how old Lewis was when he started talking.

Some kids just aren't big talkers. My nephew is almost three and can only say a handful of words, but he can understand when people talk to him and he's meeting all the other developmental milestones. He tries to mimic whatever his mom and dad say, which is really cute (and good for him.)

I think the only time it becomes a concern is when other things come into play --- slow to do other things, doesn't understand, seems "lost" or "out of it", isn't social.....etc, when there are other factors that's when it becomes a concern. But the lack of talking alone doesn't seem to be reason to send up red flags, especially when everything else on track.  Each kid is different.

I don't think it's something to worry about, most of the time, but if your pediatrician recommends that your child be evaluated for early intervention, go for it.  It will most likely be no cost to you (depending on the state) and speech therapy will continue only as long as it's needed.  My little cousin didn't hit his talking marks in a timely manner, and speech helped him get right up with his peers--no problems anymore.  Same with any other missed milestones: a little early intervention can go a long way.

My son wa sover three and said very few wrods.  He did not start till he was in preschool and was in speech thepory.  but my son was also born at 28 weeks.  and had two older brothers to talk for him lol..  I don't think there is age they should be talking in sentences.  but if they are in school and not talking then there they may be issuses im not an expert...

@summer_soda_like@xanga - I 100% agree with what you posted.  My MIL tries to talk to my 2 and 3 year old like this, and I'm like, um...shut up.... you sound ridiculous!  And my kids just look at her like she's crazy.

And you're right - some parents don't talk with their kids much and sometimes older siblings do talk for the kids.  Also, in my kids' case, my daughter has a form of autism (PDD-NOS), so she didn't speak, which also meant that my son (who is younger) had a bit of a speech issue as well, because he just did what she does.  So there was a lot of baby talk in my house for a long time.  Now he's better, and she is too.... she actually learns from him (though she is older).Just an interesting phenomena. :)

@Morningstarrising@xanga - ditto

My little brother does not, at all-- not a single word (well, he says "baba" sometimes, which means 'Dad' in Persian/Farsi, but I doubt he understands he's referring to his dad when he says it- I guess he just likes the sound of it), talk yet, he's just turned 5.
He has too much white matter, instead of brain cells (meaning he has a smaller brain than most kids his age), and that's believed to be the reason for his (according to a psychiatrist, personally I disagree) very severe case of autism, which is probably influencing his talking abilities (lack thereof, actually).

EDIT; read the question wrong. I have family members who only started talking when they were 6, now their language skills are absolutely perfect, you notice nothing strange about them. Guess some children just start later than others.

rainbowbrite721@xanga is absolutely right in saying only experts can decide whether a child is "behind" in their development. There's a big range of what is (medically) considered "normal" but coming from a very vocal family, I would worry if they weren't speaking at age 4. In the Netherlands, where I live, kids go to school starting at age 4, so not being able to speak would be considered a problem.

My son is 2 1/2 and is starting to speak in (grammatically correct) ful sentences. I can tell from my linguistics classes that he is starting to form past tenses and past participles - he makes the mistakes that are to be expected at this stage in the development, and also mistakes that come from applying the grammatical rules from one language to the other (he is bilingual Dutch/German).

Mistakes in a child's grammar will fix themselves, by the way - it doesn't help to correct the child, it usually only makes them more insecure which will sometimes lead to them giving up speaking altogether. That is important info that a lot of parents don't know about. The main thing with any child is to praise them and try to communicate verbally as much as possible. Some children are handed everything they want with just one "that! THAAAAT" so they are not forced to use language. As a parent, there is a lot you can do about that. Reading to children, for example, helps them learn more vocab and under language structures better. Always a good thing to read to your kids!