To think when your child starts talking is a sign of their intelligence?

My highly accomplished YP had moderate speech delay, then caught up quickly

Both of mine were late talkers. Neither of them had a said a single word when they turned 2. But when they did eventually speak, their speech developed rapidly and they started talking in sentences very quickly. They're both high achievers academically. Both diagnosed with Autism.

It can be but it’s absolutely not a firm rule. Lots of perfectly bright kids have speech delays for reasons unrelated to intelligence.

Have you sought help from a speech therapist? If not I would really recommend it. Early intervention can make an amazing difference for children who have a speech delay.

My DS didn't speak properly until he was 4. Now he's nearly 11 and working at greater depth in maths and literacy. DD was speaking fluent sentences from 15 months and is working at expected levels. I don't think there is much of a link really.

My child who was a late talker is likely to get 7 9’a at GCSE! X

No I'm sure it doesn't work like that. I have two kids with a Language disorder and one has a mensa level IQ ( not that you know!) Over child was non verbal until 7 with a normal IQ.

My dd had a severe speech delay until 4 and she could be gifted and talented if she wasn't such a pita. She is,is extremely bright. Too clever really.

Look up the speach and language triangle and have a read here https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/

My DD was talking fluently and clearly by 1 but I wouldn’t say she’s any brighter than any of her peers. She’s good at story writing but I wouldn’t put that down to talking early. She just likes to chat 🤣

I was much later than that with speaking, and could read at 3. I think some kids prefer to just listen until they have it all worked out.

And then there's Einstein:
"The story goes that Albert didn’t speak a word until he was three or four years old. Then suddenly, over supper one night, he said, “The soup is too hot.” Greatly relieved, his parents asked why he had never said anything before. “Because,” little Albert replied, “up to now, everything has been fine.”

I'd say no. My daughter was talking at 12 months more than my son was at 2. He's the more academic one now at 11. I also have a 2 year old son now who's only just talking but have no concerns about it.

My elder child was pretty late talking but had no speech problems and soon caught up. Now at 11 he is bright, socially and emotionally very intelligent, did well in all his SATs and generally a smart, switched-on kid. So no, I don’t think being a late talker is demonstrative of their intelligence

My son didn't talk until he was 4yrs. He was on the waiting list for speech and language therapy. All of a sudden all the words came. He's now top of his class, a complete knowledge sponge and can tell you everything about everything and learning just comes easily to him. My daughter was talking at 2.5yrs however she has never been lucky enough to be able to pick things up as quickly as my son. She has to work very hard to achieve. So no, in my experience (albeit of only two), age at which they talk had no bearing on intelligence.

My nan took my dad to the Dr when he was about 2.5 because he hadn't said a word. Dr said to wait until he's fully 3yo (not sure if that would still be the advice now). Sure enough, just before he turned 3 he came out with full sentences. I believe it's called Gestalt Language Processing - it's just a different way of processing language.
He's very clever, speaks multiple languages now, good career etc. But he still processes what he's going to say in full beforenhe says it.

My mum says she often doesn't know, when she starts a sentence, how it will end. But that's totally alien to my dad - he plans what he's going to say in full and then says it.

Yes, @S1lverCandle. Words like dada, cat, dog, more, no.

I have a hypothesis that more extrovert, socially-motivated children speak earlier and more introverted children with a rich inner world speak later. That was the case with mine - but not a very large sample to go on 😂

7 months?

Anecdotal, but my younger sibling didn't talk until they were 4 (autistic) and they are off to Oxbridge soon.

It depends on loads of factors. Girls typically talk sooner than boys. Learning more than one language can often delay speech too.

Honestly, I'm sure there's a "normal" range and as long as you're in that, you're "normal" and I imagine 20 months is normal.

How do you know they are clever, if they are non-verbal? And why are they non-verbal?

Not necessarily. I was talking from 7 months but didn't walk until 20 months. Dd didn't say much until 2 then came out with complete sentences.

My older son didn't talk till he was 7 (autism)
He's now 25 and about to finish his masters.

From my experience it's usually the later talkers that turn out to be very intelligent. My oldest(19yrs) was talking in sentences by the time he was a year and a half. I love the bones off that laddie by my god he definitely isn’t the cleverest 😂

My DSs are 15 and 18. Both neurotypical. Both clever. DS1 got ABB at A level and is at a Russell Group university. DS2 doing GCSEs next year and in top sets. DS1 didn’t utter a single word until he was 2, then spoke in sentences a few months later. DS2 didn’t speak at all till he was nearly 3. Both had lots of interaction from carers, chatted to, stories read etc.

Agree with this. My child started talking at 10 months, believe it or not. They are averagely intelligent, but I realised a couple of years ago that their dad probably has ADHD, quite severely actually (refuses to get tested) and that set off a few alerts in my head about our child and why they were quite so challenging as a toddler!

No link me, my brother and my eldest DC all spoke late. All reasonable bright.

“Autistic people are usually 'gestalt language processors', meaning that they learn sentences or figures of speech rather than single words“. Although this applies to 2 of the 3.

DC2 was a late talker. Didn’t babble, barely any words by 18mo, and the words she did have at 2 were a bit skew-whiff. She got a referral in to SaLT, but by the time she was seen at 4 she had caught up just enough that they weren’t worried.

She’s no MN-level genius, but got“exceeding” in her Y6 SATS, and in Y8 is in the top sets for the (admittedly few) setted subjects in her comp. I’m sure that the early talkers are bright, but late talking does not necessarily mean the opposite.