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

[Yuep]

Or is there no link?

bit worried as dd is hitting all milestone and can communicate and understand instruction but at 20 months is only really articulating 5 words with any real sense.

I dont like these kinds of generalisations BUT I think if there is any correlation its the other way around ie. late speakers tend to be brighter.

My dd is similar to what you described at almost 2.5 she is very articulate.

Your child will be building their lexicon even if they are not verbalising it back to you

The most intelligent person I know, who is now a professor in social linguistics at a top German university, didn't say a word until he was 3 and had been diagnosed (in the '70s when such terms were still used) as having 'significant retardation' until he suddenly started speaking in perfect sentences.

Ds didn’t talk until 3

Later diagnosed as dyslexic. As part of the diagnosis his IQ was tested.

He was in the top 2%

His dyslexia caused his speech delay.

You’re talking crap

A friend of mine has a brother who did not speak a word until he was 4. Then he just started speaking in full sentences. Very clever bloke. Almost certainly has ASD.

My daughter was speaking in paragraphs by 2. Dyslexic. Probably ASD. Brilliant auditory memory.

DS and I have a high IQ but both of us have learned to dumb down, occasionally surprising people with our intellect. Most of the time I happily identify as a “dumb blonde” life is some much easier when people have low expectations of you
That's both sad and inexplicable, really. What on earth happened to you?

YA definitely BU

I work with a child who is nearly 3 and only says a few single words but he's very clever. He does puzzles, he focusses for long periods, he follows instructions, he's good at and enjoys craft activities.

Don't worry. It could be an indication of neuro diversity but this is nothing to do with intelligence.

Absolutely not true. DD was about the same as your little one and she’s turned out super intelligent

I guess some people would like to think that their child is ahead, or brighter than others because they spoke earlier but I don't think it works like that at all. It's like saying the ones who walk first are therefore better walkers in adulthood.

Early talking can indicate giftedness. Late talking isn’t a sign either way.

No. My eldest DS did not talk til he was 3. He had a sibling a year older than him, who talked very early, and did a lot of the talking for him.

Eldest DS now has a Master's degree and works in the aerospace industry earning shit loads of money doing a very technical job. He isn't ND or anything else. He's extremely intelligent. Was just a slow talker as a child.

I have two DC, one early talker and one late. They’re in their late teens now and both are of average intelligence I’d say.

I think it’s an indication potentially of type of intelligence etc but I’ve had four and they all learnt to talk at varying speeds. On reflection I cannot see a link with intelligence. My child who was by the far the earliest to talk is probably the least academic, has dyslexia and a few other learning challenges.

Nope. My now 8 year old needed speech therapy from he was 2. Very poor speech. I worried myself sick about how he would learn to read/get on at school because of his poor speech. His speech is now pretty good but not perfect. He’s bright as a button and pretty much top of his large class. He’s better academically than my other kids who had great speech.

Most definitely not.
Also 'intelligence' is measured in different ways.

'Angrymum22 · Today 13:17
DS went to an academically selective school where they test ability at 2-3yrs using age appropriate test. DS wouldn’t speak throughout the test but indicated by pointing. His score was very high despite not uttering a word. On the way out we had to go downstairs, he turned round and said to me “ these stairs are very steep mummy”, the assessor smiled and said, “ he can speak then”.'

You've reminded me of DS utterly blanking the health visitor for his age 2 assessment. On the way out to the waiting room, after he'd sat in silence and she'd sympathetically ticked 'no' to the questions about speech despite my protests, he said grimly, 'All those children out there are making too much noise.'

DD, on the other hand, talked non-stop from about 9 months.

Visitor: 'And can she say at least six words, do you think?'
DD: 'I can say six words. One... twooo... threeeee... six!'

The first paragraph sounds similar to my boy discussed above. My boy isn’t ND. I

My DS1 had no words at 20 months. He saw a speech therapist (SALT) at 3.5 yo who gave me lots of ideas of play that encouraged language development. There’s a really good SALT method called Hanen with a book called ‘It takes two to talk’ which I found invaluable.

DS1 was also a late reader, but was always good at maths. He did catch up with his peers and developed into a very good mathematician. He got a 1st class degree in maths. His speech delay was a worry when he was young but it hasn’t held him back. He even got A in English GCSE (7 equivalent)

My advice would be to request a referral to speech therapy via your health visitor or GP. The waiting list is long so get on to it ASAP. It might be by the time an appointment is scheduled you no longer need it as your DD may have come on a lot by them, so you can always cancel.

In the meantime try the ‘It takes two to talk’ book. Secondhand might be cheaper.

DD was a late talker.
Because she was intelligent enough to work out that it was easier to let DS talk for her :)

Love that.

Me too. Little rascal 😂

Einstein was a womanising asshat by all accounts so not necessarily the best to compare against.

I have read many times that development before 5 is down to their development timetable which is no more an indicator of intelligence than growing taller quicker is.

Not in my experience, no.

I was concerned when on DS's 2nd birthday there were younger kids at his party talking much more than him, and he only had a handful of words.

DS only really started talking at 2 but then took off and by 3 was much more verbally advanced than his peers.

At 4 he's articulate, quite good at writing and very good at maths, although, how do you really quantify intelligence??

All my kids were early talkers and walkers.i taught them to sight read by 2 and blend/sound out words by 3.
Makes absolutely no difference! They are all smart and well educated but by no means exceptional.

Oh and the youngest could do handsprings at 3, she turned out to be a mid level competitive gymnast but again not exceptional!