Einstein Syndrome by Thomas Sowell

From Barnes & Noble

Drawing from the results of two studies of children who are "unusually late -- sometimes years behind schedule -- beginning to talk" but are, at the same time, way ahead of their peers in intellectual development (Einstein was such a child), this book will assuage the anxiety and guilt experienced by most parents of these children and demystify this misunderstood condition. Sowell reveals family patterns that have been observed, explores possible causes for Einstein syndrome, and charts the expected development of the late-talking but very bright child, while meticulously supporting his assertions with charts and statistics from both studies. The author's clear mastery of this subject and his generally positive attitude will be an additional comfort to parents.

From the Publisher

The Einstein Syndrome is a follow-up to Late-Talking Children, which established Thomas Sowell as a leading spokesman on the subject. While many children who talk late suffer from developmental disorders or autism, there is a certain well-defined group who are developmentally normal or even quite bright, yet who may go past their fourth birthday before beginning to talk. These children are often misdiagnosed as autistic or retarded, a mistake that is doubly hard on parents who must first worry about their apparently handicapped children and then must see them lumped into special classes and therapy groups where all the other children are clearly very different.Since he first became involved in this issue in the mid-1990s, Sowell has joined with Stephen Camarata of Vanderbilt University, who has conducted a much broader, more rigorous study of this phenomenon than the anecdotes reported in Late-Talking Children. Sowell can now identify a particular syndrome, a cluster of common symptoms and family characteristics, that differentiates these late-talking children from others; relate this syndrome to other syndromes; speculate about its causes; and describe how children with this syndrome are likely to develop.

Parent Council Reviews

Two separate studies provide dramatic stories of children who are exceptionally bright and at the same time exceptionally late in beginning to talk. Examples of famous as well as ordinary individuals in many walks of life are presented. Some names you will recognize are pianists Clara Schumann and Arthur Rubinstein and Nobel prize winners in physics Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein. The book also explores are the more immediately pressing personal question of how parents can cope with problems of a late-talking child and the often much bigger problems of officials who want to "label" these children and shunt them off into questionable programs. 2001, Basic Books Inc., $25.00. Ages Adult. Reviewer: C. Henebry SOURCE: Parent Council, September 2001 (Vol. 9, No. 1)

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents