A little boy I look after does not use his teeth to chew. He can eat most solid food, meals I give him such as pasta bolognese, noodles, chicken etc he is fine with, but if you give him something more solid he just holds it in his mouth. When he eats he fills his mouth up with food and then the food just sort of stays there until its softened enough for him to swallow. Its really vile to watch but Im more worried that there may be something wrong with him. His parents say he is just lazy but Im not sure. He is getting all of his nutritional needs met and the food is going down, I just have this feeling there is something amiss with him but I cant put my finger on it. He doesnt like feeding himself and is very weak and floppy in his hands...however, when he is playing with his toys he seems ok. He backs away if any other children so much as brush past him and he repeats words over and over again but is not forming sentences yet. This morning we made a cake together but he would not so much as hold the spoon. Most kids this age I know would have stuck their hands in the bowl but he has no interest. At one point I gave him a tiny bit of syrup on the end of his finger and said 'mmm, yummy, you try' he just looked set to cry and said'messy messy messy' until i wiped it off. Am i expecting too much, does this sound familiar to anyone? Thank you