Late-Talking Children
by Thomas Sowell

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Book Reviews of Late-Talking Children

Book Review: A highly flawed but still important analysis
Summary: 1 Stars

I am a parent of a late-talking child with high intelligence. He has some of the behavioral characteristics of the children whose case histories appear in this book, and like some of them, he was given a diagnosis of PDD-NOS. We have aggressively pursued treatment for him, with the result that his speech and socialization now appear close to normal. When he enters kindergarten in '99, there will be no question that he belongs in a normal classroom; the school he enters will be unaware that he has ever had problems, and his behavior won't tip them off. The same could have been true of the children described in Sowell's book; but it has not been, because those children's problems were not treated; everyone was too busy insisting that "my son couldn't be autistic; look at him, he can do puzzles/ math problems/ pick locks/ play on our computer!" It's time for a wake-! up call, parents; that's what mildly afflicted autistic-spectrum children of high intelligence do.

Even Sowell's statistics are questionable. He claims that it is noteworthy that every child in his sample had a close relative who is either in a technical field or a musician. Think about the proportion of engineers in the population; think about the number of families which, if one includes aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, have technical members. For Sowell to leave this question of statistical strength unaddressed is shocking.

Yet, this book is important in that it focuses on bright children with mild autistic spectrum disorders, who may look autistic as young children but whose outcomes are often good. This class of children has long gone unrecognized by a mainstream autism community which refuses to believe that autism spectrum disorders can be treated effectively, to the point of near-recovery. But leaving these kids untreated isn't the way to go; one is leav! ing to chance what should be, and can be, taken into our ha! nds. If a parent starts specialized education early -- and effective treatement can start before the child is 2 -- the problem can be gone by the time the child reaches kindergarten.

There is a yawning gap in literature on, and awareness of, children with mild autistic spectrum disorders. Thomas Sowell has tried to fill the gap -- but badly and wrongly. His recommendation that late-talking children be left untreated, lest they be labeled by their school systems, is likely to leave many parents who latch onto his book, because of its heartening message, feeling terribly sick and sorry when their children are older.

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