My son (now 21) did this, and eventually got into speech therapy (at 3 1/2). It took a lot of work, but he speaks only slightly "mumbly" now.

I usually start the conversation with "have you noticed..." or "are you concerned about x's drooling at all? " Feel them out. Some parents will say "oh, I'm glad you brought that up", some will say "I'm not worried". If it's their glad, ask if they'd like you to gather some information for them. If it's I'm not worried, say something like "well, I'm a LITTLE concerned, but if you're not, how about we look at it again in x months, and see? "

At this age, a couple month delay isn't going to make a huge difference, but it may give the parent time to adjust to the idea of some help, or they may bring it up with their doctor after thinking about it.

My doctor, when I was concerned at 2, said "oh, his older brother just talks for him, I wouldn't worry". No matter how strongly I denied that was the case (and it didn't happen, ever), he still insisted that it was. Eventually, I called birth-to-3 anyway. My sister (both of us were dcp's) gave me a shove on that, and I was glad later.

You could also say something along those lines. "You know, my friend (that's me) said that she wasn't really concerned, but her sister pushed her for an evaluation. Maybe a family member who doesn't see him every day would be a good resource to bounce it off of?"

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