A notable example of a child who overcame early developmental problems is Albert Einstein, who suffered from speech difficulties as a young child. Other late-talking children who became highly-successful engineers, mathematicians, and scientists include the physicists Richard Feynman and Edward Teller.
Einstein famously didn't start talking until he was 3 years old. Other famous late talkers include mathematical genius Ramanujan, a nobel prize winner (Gary Becker), a US talk show host (G. Gordon Liddy) and even Mussolini.
The syndrome is named after mathematical and physicist genius Albert Einstein, who was a relatively late talker himself. Einstein's parents were so worried about his lag in speech that they consulted a doctor. Einstein's teachers reportedly said that he would not amount to anything due to his defiant behavior.
In conclusion, late talking is a phenomenon that affects many celebrities, including Albert Einstein, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Gary Becker, G. Gordon Liddy, and Benito Mussolini. While late talking can be a sign of a language delay, it is not always the case.
Einstein Syndrome was named for Albert Einstein, according to many the most brilliant and influential scientist of the 20th Century. Einstein, a certified genius, was also a late talker (according to some biographers). He didn't speak full sentences until he was 5 years old.
Some late talkers will start to catch up to their peers by the age of three, but some may continue to have difficulty with spoken language. There are many different causes of late talking, and it is often hard to pinpoint the exact cause.
Gifted children tend to begin talking early. While most children say their first word at around 1 year of age, gifted children may begin speaking when they are 9 months old. 2 Some parents report that their children said their first word even earlier than that, as early as 6 months of age.
A speech delay is an early indicator of ASD in young children, but it is NOT the only signifier. Every child is unique. It is often said “If you've met one individual with autism, you've met one individual with autism.” The opposite is often said for late talkers.
According to research, babies who experience language development earlier than average grow up to have higher IQ levels. This is mostly noticeable during adulthood. That being said, language delay is also the most common developmental delay experienced by children under the age of 3.
Factors contributing to speech development in a child can range from the immediate environment around them and their personality (some children are shy) to their gender, as boys are usually late talkers when compared to girls. Hence in most of the cases speech delay isn't associated with low intelligence.
Late talkers typically appear to have good understanding of what is said to them, engage in appropriate, but often quiet play, and interact well with others using gestures.
In this 2012 study, researchers found that two-thirds of the elementary-aged kids with ADHD had a speech or language delay at 18 months. That number is significantly higher than kids without ADHD!
The brain's outer mantle, or cortex, gets thicker and then thins during childhood and the teen years. The study found that in kids with superior intelligence, the cortex reaches its thickest stage a few years later than in other children. Nobody knows what causes that or how it relates to superior intelligence.
The smartest people are the ones who are quietly listening and absorbing everything that is being said around them. These people have the most knowledge because they're processing words instead of speaking them. Their thoughts and opinions arrive from knowledge that has been meticulously collected and curated.
Talking to yourself, it turns out, is a sign of genius. The smartest people on earth talk to themselves. Look at the inner monologues of the greatest thinkers. Look at poetry!
Simple speech delays are sometimes temporary. They may resolve on their own or with a little extra help from family. It's important to encourage your child to "talk" to you with gestures or sounds and for you to spend lots of time playing with, reading to, and talking with your infant or toddler.
Some children with expressive language delay "catch up" during the preschool years ("late bloomers"), whereas others have persistent delay (see 'Natural history' below). Early evaluation can help to correctly identify late-talking children who will benefit from intervention and/or additional evaluation.
Hereditary factors
We see no language problems when the child is between 18 months and three years old. They are latent" says Ystrøm. The researchers believe that both specific genes and factors in the child's external environment can lead to delays in language development at three to five years of age.
Children who present as late talkers tend to catch up to their peers by the ages of 3-5 years old, but could be at risk for developing later language or literacy difficulties, or even mental health needs.
Indeed, many late talkers do “grow out of it”, but many do not. It can be difficult to predict which children will not catch up to their peers. However, a list of risk factors has been identified, which suggest that a child is more likely to have continuing language difficulties [4].
Many kids with speech delays have oral–motor problems. These happen when there's a problem in the areas of the brain responsible for speech. This makes it hard to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw to make speech sounds. These kids also might have other oral-motor problems, such as feeding problems.
Speech/Language Milestones
Boys tend to develop language skills a little later than girls, but in general, kids may be labeled "late-talking children" if they speak less than 10 words by the age of 18 to 20 months, or fewer than 50 words by 21 to 30 months of age.
According to The Hanen Centre, a late talker is a child between 18 and 30 months with a good understanding of language and typical development in other areas (hearing, vision, motor, and cognitive skills) but has a limited spoken vocabulary compared to peers for their age.