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Summary: Well-delineated population of late-talking children
Review: Those those parents who might feel alone with a late-talking child who might have gifts in MUSIC, MATH, and/or MEMORY and relatives who are engineers or musicians - this book is for you. While many children with speech and perhaps developmental delays may fit under the umbrella of PDD or "autism," there is a unique group of square pegs who were not identified (except by their puzzled parents) - up 'til now. We struggled for two years to ensure that our daughter was not forced into a learning environment with PDD students exclusively. Close observation of those classes, especially after reading this book, revealed to me as a parent obvious differences between and and "ES" child and one with PDD. Thus this story chronicles the awakening of our consciousness group of bright children who are often misdiagnosed and misplaced within Thanks to this book, our perserverence, and 3 insightful teachers, our daughter excels in school and is enjoying expressing herself in the school's drama club. She remains eccentric, but well-adjusted. Thomas Sowell's writing is elegant and clear. Part anecdotal; part analytical with the aid of Stephen Camarata of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. There will be no doubt in your mind after reading this book whether you child fits The Einstein Syndrome (his most recent book) or not... This book is not meant to be a substitute for examinations by one or more MDs who specialize in Child Development or Developmental Pathology - but it is a critical resource for anyone whose child matches the criteria outlined by Dr. Sowell and/or feel there child just doesn't fit into the PDD mold. Those who have children with "The Einstein Syndrome" may also find individual speech therapy helpful in mainstreaming your child early in the public schools, as we did.
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Summary: The First Book to Address This Issue
Review: Everyone I know either knows someone who talked late, or was him/herself a late talker, having no other ailments except late talking. I'm surprised someone didn't address this issue sooner. I would give this book four stars for the fact alone that it finally breeched the subject. My three-year-old does not as yet talk, and this brought me a great deal of concern. As I read this book, I wrote down every similarity between Thomas Sowell's case studies and my own child. It gave me a much more well-defined outline of what my child is going through, being extremely intelligent and developmentally the same as her peers, but having no speech. This book is not meant to diagnose. It's not even meant to stand as a general rule. What it does is create a basis of reference for parents of children who are clearly not developmentally challenged, but haven't talked yet. I think Mr. Sowell was quite clear in that his research was not concise science, and anyone who read it as such was only hoping to fool him/herself into having greater hope than there is. Read this book with a grain of salt... though it's a study on late-talking children, it is the first of its kind, and the first attempt to encourage further research. It's a terrific resource, so long as the reader is not blind to a child's actual behavioral symptoms. Let the reader come to this book with his/her child's diagnosis based in reality, and it may prove a very useful tool to understanding the late-talking child.
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Summary: A wonderful book that saved my sanity!
Review: I understand why some reviewers disliked this book, but as a parent who was starting to freak out, I was thrilled to get it. I put my son (now almost 6) in speech therapy when, at 1 1/2, he only spoke two words. He had hearing tests, brain scans, everything possible to try to figure out what was wrong, and the speech pathologist determined there was absolutely no reason why he wasn't talking except that he didn't want to. At 2, his nonverbal skills were at a 6 year old level, but verbally he tested at 11 months. I bought this book when my son was 2 1/2, and it changed every doubt I ever had about myself as a parent. He didn't just have a few similarities; it seemed Dr. Sowell was writing about him exactly. I was (and am) completely convinced the the phenomenon of right-brain dominance exists, although the SLP we were seeing refused to acknowledge it. Two months before my son turned 3, he woke up one morning speaking in sentences and is gifted (as the children in the book were) in music, math, and memory. Unfortunately, most children will not fit Sowell's pattern, and autism/PDD are realities for many parents. But for those who are at the end of their rope and KNOW their child doesn't fit into any of the labels, this book could change your life.
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Summary: it made me feel a whole lot better....
Review: It made me feel a whole lot better that there are other parents out there experiencing the same problems and feelings that my husband and I are having. We are the parents of a bright three-year-old, who is speaking on a 1 1/2 year old level. He has a vocabulary of about thirty words right now, and he uses them correctly and in context. However, he is far behind his age group. My son and our families had many similarities to the children in Mr. Sowell's books, "Late-Talking Children" and "The Einstein Syndrome". However, I don't agree 100% with everything Mr. Sowell wrote, and I would never use one man's opinion as gospel. Use this book as advice to be listened to and judged by an informed mind and a parent's heart. Research, read, talk to professionals, but also listen to your gut where it concerns your child. Mr. Sowell makes a good argument for that.
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Summary: An important resource for Parents
Review: I am the parent of an extremely intelligent and precocious 3 1/2 year old boy who has been diagnosed with a severe communications disorder in both expressive and receptive communication. A diagnosis of PDD-NOS was considered due to a range of extremely mild symptoms, but in the end it could not be supported by the various independent professionals we hired. Dr. Sowell's book offers parents an important source of antidotal information that is sorely lacking in the literature. This book must however be read with caution. The numerous stories Dr. Sowell presents are of children who presented only "expressive" communication disorders. As he rightly points out in the text, the prognosis for children whose expressive and receptive skills are delayed is not necessarily as optimistic. I was troubled by one recurring theme in the text. Dr. Sowell was, in my opinion, overly critical of the medical and educations professionals who are tasked with providing assessments and treatment options for "children at risk". In my experience in Canada we have found the level of professionalism of local child physiologists, pediatricians, speech therapists, social workers, and many others to be absolutely outstanding. Even our son's nursery school teachers have proven to be invaluable resources in our search for answers to our son's communication difficulties. I am very comfortable recommending this book to any parent whose child "does not quite fit" the PDD-NOS label. To those who follow though, remember, there are treatment options out there that are based in common sense, and probably do help. Don't use this text as an excuse to not seek advice and assistance. If you suspect a problem begin discussing it with your child's doctor. In conclusion, "Late Talking Children" offers much need hope, with concrete examples of numerous children. Buy it and read it, but do so carefully. Dr. Sowell is to be commended for his work. (PS, I'm a third generation engineer!)
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Summary: Not very useful
Review: If you are looking at this review I assume like myself, you have a child who is not talking at the age-appropriate level, and want to know what to do about it. I found this book to be simply a compilation of stories of children who are bright but spoke later than their peers. I have heard many stories like these from well-meaning friends and family. True, there are kids who are just "late talkers". I dont need to read it in a book. More importantly, it does not provide any suggestions as to how to help your late-talking child. Agree with author that it is best not to label your child PDD etc, but if that means your child will get access to help in the form of therapy, by all means explore it, but don't get bogged down by it. I worry that this book might create a false sense of security in some and delay getting help for their child. Check out the books by Marilyn C. Agin and Patricia Hamaguchi-they help you try to pinpoint your child's problems and provides suggestions as to how to help your child. You may also want to read " The Out of sync child"; occupational therapy has greatly improved my child's listening and learning ability (and hence speaking). Studies have shown that speech delay may also manifest into learning disabilities like reading/writing problems later, even self-esteem problems, topics which the author did not explore further. When it comes to our kids, it is better to be safe than sorry!
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Summary: What is the point?
Review: I can't fathom why this book was published-it's such a slim ribbon of an idea. One man whose son talked late and didn't develop speech/language problems wrote an article, interviewed forty or so other parents who contacted him because their kids were similar, and his uninformed musings as a dad are worthy of a book-from the illustrious Basic Books no less?
There is one thing I liked about this book: it takes the position that we shouldn't automatically label a child autistic just because he has some symptoms of autism. That's really not beneficial to the autism community or to the kids who get that misleading label. Now, some parents agree to the autism label to get services in school, and that IS a problem-how can we tell what's true autism when the school system makes it so impossible for a child with, say, sensory integration dysfunction and CAPD to get services?
That said, there is so much here to dislike: The patently absurd assumption that underpaid professionals like SLPs are eager to get kids into an underfunded system of special ed. The false reassurances that all the kids whose parents were interviewed were "just fine" despite some lingering speech/language problems (which as Mel Levine points out, smart kids can work around until they hit certain points in their schooling when speech/language demands increase exponentially). The flip flopping on whether early intervention is of value, despite mountains of evidence Sowell didn't examine that shows it is. The distorted claim that testing and services cause parents and kids stress-well, it all depends on how they're performed, and the parents' attitude! And of course, not only did Sowell not do his research, this book was published in 1997, so it's woefully out of date. We know so much more about EI, CAPD, SI dysfunction, high functioning autism, speech/language delays, and other related topics Sowell doesn't talk about. Heck, the average parent of a special needs child who you meet on the Internet is better informed than he is.
I just can't imagine why anyone would bother to read this book unless desperately seeking false assurance that their late talker will be okay if they refuse to get testing or services, which I think is an irresponsible thing to do given that there's no downside to a free EI evaluation and so much balanced and well-researched info out there.
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Summary: Looking Back...
Review: I read this book when my "severe communication disordered" (age 3)"PDD" (Age 3.5) "Educationally Autistic" (age 4 )"Asperger's"(Age 4.5) ADHD (Age 5) PDD-NOS (Age 9) son was age 3. It has been in the back of my mind all that time. I think there is more to it than what I would like to admit. If I had it to do all over again, I'm not sure I would go the therapy route because it IS SO STRESSFUL and forces you to look at all the negatives, and you tend to discount the gifts and look for "cures" all the time. My son is adopted, so it is not "genetic", but my husband was a late talker...not a peep until age 4 and full sentences at that time. My mother in law was told that both he and his brother were retarded in kindergarten. His brother is a late bloomer studying to be a CPA...My husband (age 48) works for a state archives and is the Education Director, and is presently writing the 3rd grade Social Studies book (he was a teacher for 10 years). He is considering looking for Federal employment in DC...maybe we are "Eccentric", but who gives a hoot!!!! It's a good life.By the way...my husband never used to look me in the eye, but I fell in love with his mind so I didn't notice... My son, age 9, is just beginning to open up. His gift is cartooning. That's the part no special Ed teacher will tell you...that there is often a gift. Who gives a hoot about school..life tends not to imitate the "cookie-cutter" fit mandated there, anyhow. I believe Mr Sowell has a grand point to make. The anxiety caused by the label can do far more harm than good. I think his politics are lousy, however (tongue in cheek...).
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Summary: This book is CRAP!
Review: I was hesitant to read this because a speech langauge therapist had not written it. As a speech language therapist, I was HORRIFIED by the content of this book. Every child that was listed in this book sounded as if he/she had some type of austism. He even had the nerve to disvalue the early interventionist of the world. Early intervention is the KEY! It is not NORMAL for children to begin talking at 3 or 4.
Please do NOT read this book. It is full of mistruths. If you want to read something about late talkers read a book written by a speech language therapist or a linguist.
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Summary: A book that scares me - PLEASE READ THIS REVIEW
Review: Parents don't want a label for their child. They don't want to see doctors, get a diagnosis, struggle to help for their child and get the services they need. This book scares me because it tells your inner voice worried about your child to be quiet and that you just need to wait it out and everything will be fine. I am sure for some "nervous parents" this is good advice and you can wait for your child to speak. If this is you - you are lucky and blessed. For the 99% others out there - IT IS TIME TO GET BUSY. THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL. EARLY INTEVENTION IS THE KEY TO YOUR CHILDS FUTURE SUCCESS. Please, for your child - get a good diagnosis, see at least three to four specialists for your childs needs/deficits and address them immediately. That time is better spent vs. reading this book.
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