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Einstein Syndrome
Anna Marie - posted on 03/27/2010 ( 18 moms have responded )
5

13

Hi fellow moms of late talkers. Is anyone familar with the work of Thomas Sowell, specifically The
Einstein Syndrome? I have a 3 yr old son that does not speak that I think has this and I would LOVE to
talk to moms with kids like my son. After failing to meet the milestone of a few words at his one year
check up his ped. ordered early intervention, speech therapy and for two years (until he aged out of the
program) he was seen twice a week for an hour each session. He had a wonderful therapist, but he
made no progress and it was obvious he did not want to participate. He is like that if he is not interested
you might as well give it up he will not participate, he is extremely strong willed. We had the autism eval
done a few times and the evaluator seemed very experienced she said he scored high in the "risk"
category and it would be advised that we seek further testing, but in her personal opinion she just did
not see it, and that is how we feel. Julian has some (very few) characteristics of high functioning autism
but the major ones are not present. He makes eye contact and is able to form bonds with others, like his
teachers, friends from church and school, and is very visablely excited when we pull up at school or I
mention his teacher. He aslo shows emtions in an appropriate manner, and is very loving just like
anyother little kid. So we have been baffled by him. After talking to a mom a church last Sunday she
suggested I look up Einstein Syndrome. I did and after I reading a short paragraph I was in tears,
wonderful happy tears, finally something that described my son and my family to a tee. I ordered the
book and am now reading it and with each page I find another thing that sounds just like my son. I have
been looking of a support group or discussion board on this and can't find anything. So here I am
looking for other moms who's kids fall into this category. Any input would be wonderful.

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Arianna - posted on 12/15/2012

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Hi Anna, both my kids are speech delay, my son is 5 and my daughter is 3, I enrolled them in a
private kindergarden, but the school labeled them as autistic kids, I visited several therapists and
specialists all of them agreed that they aren not autistic, but didn't give me an answer either, it is
very frustrated.
Both of then are very good with puzzles, mazes,they both love music and science but they don't
learn at the same level as the other kids the same age. I tried to find a school for kids with learning
disabilities until I found the book "Einstein Syndrome" I hope an answer in this book and also to find
a school for kids with this condition or ability. You are not alone... I just decided to allow my kids to
be themselves, not pushing them anymore.. but focus on the things they like the most, I brought
them to the science museum (they loved it) they play happily there, I will allow them to play all day
with puzzles and mazes and play outdoor (it is hard now that is winter) but no more pushing and stop
comparing them with the rest of the kids..
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Jiselle - posted on 03/19/2012

3

Hello fellow moms. I am new to this forum and I am very glad I found a discussion specific to this
topic. I have a 4 year old son that's also a late talker. Even after 2 years of Speech Therapy he's still
presenting significant delays in his speech development. I have also read the book about the
Einstein Syndrome and I found the similarities with my son very compelling. My child fits perfectly
with all the characteristics mentioned in the book, even the family traits described (father is an
engineer and my family is very music oriented, I even have professional musicians in my family
circle).

I am from Puerto Rico, but I recently moved to the US (California). I just find it intriguing how children
from different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds can have such similar characteristics. My son, is

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not able to use language to be descriptive, he is very selective in the things that he pays attention to.
He tends to drift off to his own world, and even makes up words (consistently) as if he had invented
his own language. On the other hand, he's very social, friendly, understands emotions very well, he's
very creative, caring and affectionate. He makes visual contact and bonds very well with teachers
and therapists.

What I'd like to contribute to this topic is the fact that very recently ( a few months ago), during a
second autism evaluation the Speech Pathologist recommended a Pediatric medical Geneticist
evaluation. We followed her suggestion and after a few lab tests the doctor diagnosed my son with a
fatty acid metabolic disorder. We started our own investigations on this matter and discovered that
even though it is not common, this kind of genetic disorder can affect speech development because
it affects his ability to concentrate. After the recommended treatment (special diet and multivitamin
supplements), we have noticed improvement, in his speech and awareness of surroundings (he
doesn't seem to drift off as much as before).

Anna Marie - posted on 09/19/2013

5

13

Asperger or High Function Autism?

Can anyone explain what is the difference
between the two, it's very confusing, eg....
Our 21 month old has red flags of autism
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our 21 month old having many red flags of...
2 Year Old With Autism? - So my son is just
over 2 now. The...
So my son is just over 2 now. The only thing he
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was evaluated by...
My 2 year old son was evaluated by a speech
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I am in a never ending search for information and new studies and treatments, and I guess you are
the same. I am very happy to have found this site, and I hope that my experience with my son can
shed light to any one of you.
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Speech Therapist Suggested Austism, need

Advice..
I have a 28 month old son that was a 9 week
preemie, only child, that stays at home...

I have not been to this page in a while and saw tonight that Carrie posted about her 2 year old
daughter and her story sounds very familiar to what we experienced with my son. My son was 3
when I first posted to this board and was not speaking at all. But Thanksgiving holiday 2010 we were
with family and my son met one of his cousins for the first time (a super spunky little 9 yr old girl) who
was unfamiliar with his lack of speech and when he grunted for a chip she looked at him and said,
'What do you say??' (with all the attitude of a teenager) and my son looked down and said, "please".
At that moment we were all left speechless and asked her to try to get him to say more words and
that was when he began to speak and he has not shut up since then. We have also had a complete
eval done on him and he has been dx with receptive and expressive language disorder and
dysgraphia, and the autism eval came back with him in the no - low risk category. He is at a special
school for children with learning disabilities (mostly in communication and language processing) and
he has done very good. He is bright and has lots of friends and everyday we see him grow a little
more and we now have a great deal of hope that Julian will be able to achieve what ever he sets his

He doesn't know many words :(

Read at 18 months my son should know 10-50
words? Saw a social worker and she...

mind to and we no longer see a limited world for him.

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I know it is frustrating when your child is the only one not speaking and how difficult these children
can be but there is hope and our children will be ok and they will grow and learn. You never know
when that switch is going to click on for them and they are going to show us that they have been
listening and absorbing all along.
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Sonjha - posted on 03/28/2010

5

13

Hi..My name is Sonjha...I live in Alabama and my son will be 3 in June...He has not said one word
either. I have the book by Sowell and am going to start reading it tonight. My son is extremely strong
willed too, it's hard to discipline him because he isn't speaking and it's hard sometimes to figure out
if his fits are because he doesn't speak and is frustrated or because he's being defiant. He also has a
very high pain tolerance so spankings seem to have no affect. I recently tried having him go to his
room when he has a fit so he can calm down in there. It seems to be working somewhat. However,
on the good side he can count to ten...He doesn't actually say the words but he makes a sound for
each number that sounds close to the name of each number. For instance for 1 he says "uh" for 2
"oo" for 3 "ee" for 4 "or" 5 "I" and so on...and he's already learning his A B C's and making the sounds
for all of them...he also stacks blocks 20+ blocks high and perfectly....it's odd, but in a good way....He,
like your son, also makes eye contact and has emotional bonds and shows emotions at the
appropriate times. I'm going to be reading the book as well and would love to have someone with a
child with the same characteristics to talk to about the book and any everyday things. TTYL

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Staci - posted on 12/30/2011
1

I am just beginning to learn about Einstein syndrome. My grandson is 4 and a late talker. He has
been labeled as mildly autistic by a psychologist. His pediatrician will only label him language
delayed and the same from the pediatric neurologist. We needed the autism diagnosis in order to
get his therapies covered by insurance so we basically squeezed the autism diagnosis out of the

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psychologist for insurance purposes. Well to this day my son, the child's father, does not believe he
is autistic. At first I thought he was jus in denial and I understood that. He introduced me to the
concept of Einstein syndrome a year ago but never really educated myself on the subject bc I have
been caught up with the autism diagnosis and early intervention. He is in specialized speech therapy
both group and individual and aba therapy 21 hours a week and in a normal preschool 2days a week
w a shadow. Now that I have been reading about the Einstein syndrome it seems to fit him perfectly.
He is very smart, affectionate, socially appropriate, great motor skill, great at puzzles and hitting a
golf ball. He is very interested in music and numbers. He is such a happy child so the autism
diagnosis does not exactly fit. Is there any suggestion of therapies or things we parents and
grandparents can do to treat a child w Einstein syndrome? I would love to know what other parents
are doing with these incredible kids. Thanks for this opportunity to voice my concerns!
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18 COMMENTS

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Yadi - posted on 01/28/2016

2

Hello Anna Is this board still active ? I see most posts are from 2010. Please message me at
gonzalezyadi@yahoo
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Yadi - posted on 01/28/2016

2

Hello Anna Marie !

Are you still active on this board ? I'd like to ask a few questions to you in regards to your son .
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Aliya - posted on 12/04/2014

1

high pain tolerance

I have a student who at the age of 3 started grade 3 reading books and now at the age of 6 he can
read high school books.He doesn't interacts with any one .Only uses few words with me .I have
given him some responsibilities to take care of things .Now he is better than before in following
instruction and replying me.
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Susan - posted on 05/26/2014

1

My son fits almost all of the conditions. Was diagnosed by psychologist as "some kind of odd ADHD"
(minus the hyperactivity). He was also quite short-a `15 percentile for growth. He was picked on
unmercifully by teachers and kids for his quirkiness and was quite stressed because of this. He was
enrolled in special education in school in fifth grade and throughout school-this greatly tapered off in
his high school years. My son said (in fourth grade) he had "something wrong with his brain" as he
felt "could not learn". This is what I felt that helped- I paid for tutoring, son had weekly (professional)
massages for stress reduction, violin lessons, dance lessons, and travel (to educate him i.e.
Smithsonian, etc to develop other areas of the brain). We tried medication on son for one week and
stopped as son said he felt his heart racing on the meds. At 14 years of age my son was very upsetthat he was picked on by classmates for being shorter, had no hair on his legs and a high voice.
Then 15 years came and boom- not only did he physically mature (grew about 5" in one year) but his
brain developed intellectually- tremendously. At 20, my son is 6' tall, in his second year of collegeelectrical engineering technology/building management (physics was his easiest course). My son still
has issues with social skills i.e meeting new people, but once the "ice is broken" connects well with
others (especially the elderly) and is probably one of the most kindest, decent and intelligent person
one would meet. Don't give up hope. Prayer also helps. It took money and thinking "out of the box"
to help my son. I had to go back to work full time to pay for the tutoring, massage and travel. I felt
educational vacations were necessary as it stimulated curiosity and history/ science "became real".
In a moment of despair (note my son's comment above about not able to learn), I thought if my son
truly could not learn, I would teach him by traveling and show him the world. Susan
ingwalljoe@verizon.net
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Gene - posted on 12/13/2013

4

My Child is the same way. I could tell his bright, but he has so many problems in regards to his
development milestone and is lagging behind his peers when it comes to learning. He notices things

that other people selectively tune out and I think this is why he is so distracted all the time, and
sometimes I feel he arrives at answers without sorting
through the question.
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Kate - posted on 10/19/2013

1

Very glad to have found this forum and mirror all you have said. My sons speech, while developing,
is at a much slower rate than his peers, but as with all your children doesn't fit with ASD. He puzzles
all the health care professionals we see. He's bright, funny has a good sense of humour and is a
good reading and maths skills. All the kids in school love him. I don't feel he's autistic, so finding out
about other late speakers and Einstein syndrome have Ben interesting. Thanks! Kate from the UK
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Carrie - posted on 09/19/2013

3

Hello. I recently discovered Einstein Syndrome while researching online. It describes my 2 year old
exactly. Her father is an engineer and he and his entire family were all late talkers. Despite this
strong family history, I feel everyone tries to label her as autistic when she just doesn't quite fit. I
have her in speech therapy and it does not seem to be helping and only upsets her. She is very
strong willed. I feel no one can relate and am so frustrated.
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Joan - posted on 05/14/2013

1

Sonjha
I think your child can have a fonological disorder or apraxia.
Joan.
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Lisa - posted on 05/24/2012

41

Thank you all for sharing your stories, it was interesting to read them all. My son is a little younger,
just three weeks shy of his 2nd birthday and I suspect there is something going on. He has a speech
delay and has been in Early Intervention for five months (teacher comes twice a month to work with
him). Early Intervention is helping, he went from saying three words at 18 months to about 20 words
now, which is below average when looking at milestone charts. He is not combining two words yet,
either. Most days he only have a few select words he actually uses (more, ball, mama, dada).
Otherwise, he uses A LOT of sign language to communicate. Besides using sign language, he has
great eye contact, is great with other kids and adults, and seems very bright, just can't get the words
out. He knows a lot of his letters and will spontaeously blurt out the letters that he sees. He also
spontaneously says "eight" and "nine" when he sees the numbers. He knows all of his shapes; he
can point the shapes out when I ask, but cannot say the words.
I have read Sowell's earlier book, Late Talking Children, but want to also read the Einstein
Syndrome, too. My son goes in for his 2 year check up in a couple weeks and I am sure that the
doctor will be asking questions about his speech, since it was a concern at his 18 month check-up. At
18 months, the doctor was not concerned with Autism, but I know things can change. My son does
have a few characteristics of autism - OCD about light switches and doors, walks on tip-toes, shakes
when he gets excited, loves fans. But with his great eye contact, how affectionate he is, and with his
spontaneous communication, I did not think that Autism would be the diagnosis. What do the
doctors say about these children? Do they come right out and say "Your child has Einstein
Syndrome"? It's not really an official dianosis, just a term that was coined by the author. I have found
that Hyperlexia is similar to Einstein Syndrome, but there is much debate over whether or not
Hypelexia lies on the Autism spectrum. Has any Einstein children been diagnosed as Hyperlexic? If
not, how are the doctors labeling these children if they are not autistic?
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Pamela - posted on 03/04/2012

2

I'm glad i found you on this board.

Late talking runs in my family. I have a nephew who didn't talk until 3, and my daughter speak a word
until about 2.5. She is very intelligent. Her spatial skills are incredible and was doing double digit

math at 3.5. To this day, she enters her "own little world" where she will "run around" back in forth,
talking to herself, or she will tell people "I need to be alone right now." When you ask her what she
does when she "runs" or is alone, she says she thinks about things. Very often, you need to call her
multiple times for her to respond as she is "deep in thought" or concentrating. She had an extreme
fear of people not in her immediate circle when she was a toddler, but grew out of that. I have no
doubt that if she was "evaluated" they would have found "autistic markers."

My husband is very much the same way...and he's highly intelligent. He needs "alone time" to think
and process whatever deep thoughts are in his head.

Now onto my 26 month old son, who, to complicate matters, had ear glue up until he got tubes 3
weeks ago, and could not hear (varying levels) for at least 12 months. He is very much like my
daughter, although he has not hit a couple of minor "markers" like building blocks (he instead prefers
to examine the numbers and letters printed on the blocks) or pretend to feed a doll (although I have
no idea why a 2 year old boy would want to feed a doll). He has his own agenda when he plays. I
took him for a Speech Eval at the urging of medical professionals, and the pathologist had
"concerns" that he was on the spectrum due to his lack of speech, "own agenda" and his "running
around" like my daughter does.

However, he is very affectionate, seeking hugs and kisses from people, loves to snuggle, maintains
eye contact, has great motor skills, loves music, bonds with others (even bonded with the evaluator),
appears to always be "thinking" and reacts appropriately to emotions and situations. He's just "got
his own agenda" and insists on doing things his way....and has a speech delay, either from his ear
glue, or from the family history.

I will not allow them to label him. He has the same "quirks" as the rest of my family, and once he
talks, I think the "experts" will drop their need to label him. I'm glad to see I'm not alone.
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Jill - posted on 01/13/2011

572

18

71

Anna and Sonja ... my son is 2 1/2 and he doesn't speak either and is in early intervention and i see
no improvement. Most people i talk to about it say Early intervention is so miraculous my son talked
in 3 months fluently ... my son has been in the program 3 months and i see little to no improvement ...
i also thought my son had Einstein syndrome.. he is so intelligent , does everything you ask him to
& FUN
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other times....heFOOD
only made
it into
early
intervention by clinical opinion... he passed all the tests with flying colors except for speech... his
speech therapist says he has speech apraxyia.... i am gonna check out the book you suggested....
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Emma - posted on 10/12/2010

1,590

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114

Thank you, i just did a goggle search now on this and am going to get the book ASAP.
from the small amount of info i got from my search this is my Son !!
Thank you again
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Missy - posted on 04/20/2010

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Hey Marie! I read Thomas Sowell's books back when my son was about 2.5. I cried my way through them,
too. Finally someone understood!! You are not alone, hon. There is a LARGE group of us that have all
found our way to a Yahoo Group called Natural Late Talkers. However, we've just moved over to a
privately hosted message board! Feel free to check it out (I'm a moderator over there). You'll find you're in
GOOD company!!!
www.naturallatetalkers.com/forum
I hope it's okay for me to post that here....
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