A gifted group of kids
As parents of a two-year old child who still isn't talking but excels in other skills, it never actually crossed our minds that there was anything wrong with our Little Hulk. We always get the "He's very bright for his age." remark from other people and as hands on parents we'd definitely catch anything a miss concerning any of our kids. He's physically fit, a bit on the heavy lean side, all muscle, no fat. He climbs things with ease, like it's something second nature to him, making me think I gave birth to Tarzan. We actually call him Rangu sometimes, short for Orangutan. Haha, we're so mean. Our little climber has a brilliant mind in our opinion and to others who get to spend time with him as well. He is very inquisitive about everything and goes on his little adventures like a pro. He communicates well without speech so we weren't really in any hurry for him to talk at all. To Mr. D and I, childhood isn't a race, we wanted our child to take his precious time and focus on the skills he wanted to hone first. Pressuring a child to do something when he clearly isn't ready yet, let alone a two-year old during his developing years can actually cripple him for life. Forcing our little boy to talk is just wrong no matter what the "experts" might say and what the norm is today.
Having loving family here and abroad who are curious about our kids and how they are faring, we know they mean well, but getting repeatedly told to get professional help or treatment for the Little Hulk became the trending topic for months. Speech therapy was thrown in, a couple of times in discussions over Skype during get togethers. My Inang, who we love dearly, was starting a small movement within the family ranks to convince us to get help because she was entirely sure that there was something wrong with our son. It became a battle of wills. We couldn't really abate their growing concern for our son's speech delay with just gut feeling or parental intuition to back us up. So I was forced to research on it, as a way to soothe our family and maybe make them see that there was nothing wrong. Mr. D on the other hand, wasn't even concerned, he was just relaxed as ever and wasn't even fazed by all the commotion on the subject of our son. He just stood his ground and patiently told them at each turn that we don't think that medical intervention is needed and that it was our decision as his parents.
Now going back to me, doing extensive research on the subject, I came across Thomas Sowell and his books, Late-Talking Children and The Einstein Syndrome. I found them both absolutely fascinating. The books had the answers we needed to unlock the mystery that was our son. Yes, he isn't talking yet but he manages to outwit a grown man of 30, a highly intelligent one at that, yes, you've guessed it right, his dad. At the tender age of one, he was already displaying exceptional analytic and memory skills. Orchestrating and flawlessly executing complicated tasks to get around us is already his field of expertise, we are convinced that it's his passion to play tricks on us everyday. He pulled a fast one on me just the other night, yes I admit it, I was outmaneuvered by a toddler and it's getting a bit disconcerting already. They're worried about him not talking, how about someone worrying about me and my sanity? The kid is totally making me question a lot of things, like "Who's really the boss, me or him? Is the earth really round?" Haha.
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author. He is also a father of a late-talker that falls into the same group of gifted children as our Little Hulk. He talks about famous late-talkers such as physicists Albert Einstein, Edward Teller and Richard Feynman; mathematician Julia Robinson; and musicians Arthur Rubenstein and Clara Schumann. In one of the two books, Sowell together with other researchers explain how some children develop unevenly for a period in childhood due to rapid and extraordinary development in the analytical functions of their brain. This may temporarily "rob resources" from neighboring functions such as language development. After reading the books and talking to other parents who are in the same boat as us, I decided to spill the beans and let Mr. D and our families in on the new discovery. Mr. D was like, "I told you so." He didn't know about the Einstein Syndrome specifically or of Thomas Sowell, but he did know about Einstein being a late-talker. He was all smiles that we now have a name to throw around, to correctly explain what our son has. To think that the kid is now somewhat connected to Einstein haha. He has Einstein Syndrome, ah, music to our ears.
Based on research, most children with Einstein Syndrome start talking at the age of 5, our own boy is just turning 3 this month but it really doesn't matter, to us. Now, we're kind of secretly wishing that our youngest daughter would be a late talker as well. She's a year and three months now and she isn't talking yet. There might be hope haha. Now, you might be wondering about our families? Well, let's just say, we haven't heard anything from them about the subject after that, no more speech therapy, not a whiff. The hours of research, reading and talking to a whole lot of parents around the globe really paid off.
If you're like us and Thomas Sowell, a parent of a child who is late in talking but is doing well with everything else, then I highly recommend you read these books before you let yourself get talked into getting your child treatment that he/she might not actually need. There are different types of late talking children and there is small group of these children who are very gifted and maybe your child is one of them. Who knows, right? Give it a go, read up on it. Happy parenting! God bless.
