Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book , a reviewer said no contacts - THERE IS !!
Review: ...There is a support group...that is based on Thomas Sowell's book and the findings and philosophy of Dr Camarata who's research is mentioned in extensively in "The Einsteine Syndrome"...My first experience with reading
Thomas Sowell , was "Late Talking Chidren".I strongly recommend that book as well as "The Einsteine Syndrome".
Except for the researcher Dr Camarata, and the writings of Dr Sowell on the web, there is almost nothing online, and as far as I know anywhere else that seriously , and constructively addresses the concerns of late talking children who don't have autism or apraxia . ( or Hyperlexia or SIDs) I searched for hours , and the only thorough writing I found was Dr Sowell's work.
When "The Einsteine Syndrome" came out , I rushed to buy it and it helped once again confirm my beliefs , that there are some children who are late talkers , read early , have a knack with computers, or other abilities, are stubborn, and can have qualities hat "mimic" autistic traits , but are NOT autistic.
There is a rash of overdiagnosing happening , and diagnosing being done by people who are either not qualified , or people who are not aware that there is a subgroup of children who can talk late and not have anything wrong with them.
Anyone who had a late talking child, needs to be able to read ALL aspects to find out what is going on with their child. If they only read about disorders, they are only getting part of the story.
This book has given many parents hope, in a world that currently has a doomsday trend with late talkers.
Rating:
Summary: A Gem
Review: As a parent of two developmentally delayed children, this book was a sourch of hope and insipration. Regarding the negative review from the speech pathologist above; we have been though our share of speech pathologists. There are definitley more bad apples than good.
Rating: 
Summary: Important, but incomplete
Review: As one of the "semi-professionals" Sowell references (a Floor Time therapist working in a not-for-profit Los Angeles clinic), I found Sowell's book compelling and interesting (I read it in one sitting) but incomplete. Along with Sowell, I agree that a baffiling amount of bias and incomptence can be found in a variety of schools/programs/clinics designed to treat children with special needs. I myself felt inadequately trained/prepared by my clinic before being assigned to cases. However, unlike many of the other "semi-professionals", I have a desire to learn as much as possible about the study of speech delays (particularly Austism and PDD).
Specifically, I picked up this book because of a 2-year-old client I am currently seeing who seems particularly bright but who has been identified as 'at-risk' for Autism on the FEAS scale. He currently recieves almost 20 hours a week of 'early intervention' services and both his parents and I worry that this much therapy may be innapropriate for a child of his age and functioning abilities. At the very least, Sowell's book reminded me of my own limitations as a diagnostician, the importance of positive, open, sympathetic interaction with parents, and the importance of embracing a client's individual differences while developing their intervention program.
However, although Sowell presents a compelling case for the existence of a subset of 'late-talkers' whose development is possibly further compromised by intervention services, his book offers little practical advice for parents of such children other than telling them to seek evaluations from a variety of clinical and medical experts. He makes little if no reference to the importance of factoring a child's receptive language ability and a child's ability to signal a want/desire using complex gestures in determining the likelihood of future 'spontaneous' language abilities.
Additionaly, Sowell makes several one-sentance disclaimers about not offering parents "false-hope". However, it seems likely that there are more parents of special needs children like the one on p. 145 who might interpret Sowell's theories as an endorsement of a 'wait-and-see' attitude.
Rating: 
Summary: A potentially dangerous book
Review: As the father of a bright, but late talking three year old boy, I read this book with interest. There is of course much here to give hope to the worried parent of such a child.
My fear is that for some people this will be all they need to adopt a 'wait and see' policy. The boundries of high functioning autism and eccentric personality are not well defined, particularly in the young child. I have come to believe it is much wiser to address speech delay and it's commonly associated behaviours aggressively. If all turns out well by the age of five, so much the better. If however your child does in fact lie somewhere on the autistic spectrum then you will have let him or her down by doing nothing at this early stage.
Lastly, my personal experience of speech therapists and other professionals working with late talking children is quite contrary to what Mr Sowell writes. Most are seemingly inundated with work and often it is left to the parents to push for the services their kids are entitled to.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you for this book!
Review: As the parent of a late talking child. I was concerned that he exhibited all of the symptoms quoted by the "experts" for a child with PDD-NOS. Little did I realize that taking him in for a free evaluation by the state would lead to School Psychologists and counselors demanding that I enroll him in their "enhanced" programs. After one psychologist accused me of being "in denial" I sought more information and found "The Einstein Syndrome".
This book helped me understand the political and bureaucratic and academic machinations which are creating this bogus "Autism Epidemic" expecially in California. This book offered my wife and I real hope at a very dark time in our lives.
I've waited almost 2 years to post this review. My son is now a playful, intelligent, affectionate, TALKATIVE 4 year old getting ready for kindergarten. All of the Autism/PDD "symptoms" completely disappeared on their own. And I have the luxury of returning that diagnosis to the psychologist with a big "F" written on it. Just to show there's no hard feelings, though. I plan on giving her a present, a copy of "The Einstein Syndrome".
Rating: 
Summary: Very concerned about The Einstein Syndrome
Review: First of all, I am quite offended by this author. I am a licensed speech-language pathologist with 30 years of experience in the public school system. I am currently working as a special education coordinator in (heaven forbid) a public school system. I read about children and their issues/concerns/characteristics continuously. This book was recommended by a parent and I was very excited to read it. I was not prepared for the assault on speech-language pathologists and others in the public schools of America. I truly wish the author would do a more thorough investigation of our credentials and our job performances. We are not in the business of "creating business". Believe me, we have plenty to keep us busy. We are, however, very dedicated to children and their needs....whether that involves "Einstein type children", Asperger's, Autistic, Hyperlexic, Attention Deficit Disordered, Gifted or any of the multitude of diagnoses.
Rating:
Summary: Could not be more thankful for this book
Review: Four months after being told that our son was autistic we came across a newspaper column by Dr. Sowell. After reading Einstein Syndrome, and many books on autism, we became convinced that he is not autistic.The book explains how many "professionals" dont distinguish between autism and autistic traits (many of which are quite commonly found, e.g., the ability to intensely focus on an activity). The reason it is important is because the remedial action for autistic kids is very inappropriate for those who possess a few isolated autistic traits. This book is highly critical of speech therapists, but in a reasonable and fair way. In our own experience we have come across 5 speech therapists. Out of these 5, three have been great. The other two have showed an intense need to come off as experts, jumped to conclusions, and tried to sell services clearly unsuitable for our son. On technical merits alone it would not be a 5 star. The writing could have been better. And the science is anecdotal (but still very plausible). I must add that much of the research on autism also appears to be very anecdotal. However, for charting out the best course for son, no other book has been more influential.
Rating:
Summary: interesting, but seemed a little amateurish
Review: I am surprised that a man with Sowell's academic credentials didn't do a better job of presenting (extremely limited) research. The two "research studies" he refers to are his extremely informal one with only about 50 subjects and another vaguely described one by Stephen Camarata with about 250 subjects. The point of this book is that there appears to be a subset of late-talkers with above-average math and/or mechanical and/or musical abilities and they are usually boys. Sowell objects to how these children are frequently labeled with "disorders," especially autism. I don't know much about this, but it was my understanding that autism is a wide-spectrum disorder and nothing in this book proved to me that many of these "late-talking" children Sowell writes about aren't simply borderline cases. It wasn't very reassuring to me - the very mathmatical mother of a bright but speech delayed 23 month-old. But Sowell admits that he is not an expert in this field and it seems that he has collected, analyzed and presented more information about this group of children than anyone else. But what I found objectionable about the book was his hostility towards teachers, speech therapists, and the like. I'm sure some are good and some are lousy, but to describe them as "semi-professionals" suggests to me an extremely biased mindset. He also takes quotes from parents who disagree with him that he finds on the internet and tears them apart. One in particular was from a mother who explained that she didn't want her son to just be good in math. She wanted him to enjoy drama, peotry and liturature. Seems reasonable to me, but Sollow apparently can't tolerate any suggestion that these children might have shortcomings, however minor. This attitude might be more understandable if he extended his tolerance of different aptitudes to other categories of children. But he describes a child with an I.Q. of 98 as being two points below normal! Overall, it was worth reading and I give Sollow credit for tackling the topic. But I hope more information about this cluster of abilities/delays becomes available.
Rating:
Summary: Thankful this book came along when it did!
Review: I came across this book right as I was becoming concerned about my son's lack of progress in developing expressive language even though he understood everything we said and could communicate very well non-verbally. Right away, I recognized my son in this book and it gave me hope right when I needed it the most. I worked in schools as an occupational therapist for several years prior to having my first child, and have worked extensively with speech therapists. The book does often portray school personnel in an unflattering way, but this portrait comes from many parental accounts of their bright, late talking children being misdiagnosed and the heartbreak that followed. Now that I'm a parent whose child is being evaluated rather than the evaluator myself, I can see both sides of the story. This book has been very valuable to me, as it has reassured me and encouraged me to trust my instincts about my own child. It has also helped me to focus on the many positives of my son, rather than dwelling on his slow progress in developing speech. It has meant a great deal to me to know that my son is not alone, that there are in fact many children out there who are bright children who talk late. One of them was born 30 years before my son, and she went on to write this review!
Rating:
Summary: a late talker
Review: I didnt talk until I was four and then it was in complete sentences with a vocabulary that shocked most. I was an avid reader as a child and still am. Though I consistently scored high in conventional testing I was extremely bored by the lack of challenge educational institutions offered. Thus, I was not the exemplary student in most areas, just those that interested me, and even then it was relatively easy. I'm often told I think differently than most and I still can't tolerate noise. My family has accountants and engineers and musicians. Dr. Sowell provided an explanation for some of my eccentricities.
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