This is an explanation of how people develop from newborns to the stage of childhood where the child develops communication skills through speaking. In life we find that some children talk at a younger age than others. Some take very long that people gets worried since they can grow to an age of more than five years without having the right skills to communicate with others in the community. As a result, researchers such as Thomas Sowell have gone further to researching and giving various explanations as to why it happens. This essay will mainly focus on Sowell’s explanation, looking at his conclusions andreasons that he put across in his work.

It would be very important to make sure that a child undergoes therapy as soon as possible to prevent any problems before going to school (Sowell 19997).Sowell makes several conclusions on why this condition appears to some children but not others. Some of these conclusions are listed below:

1. The problem might arise naturally where the child stays with the condition until when the body of the child itself responds to the disorder itself. Sowell argues that any treatment to this condition may lead the teachers of the child expecting very little from the child and also xo much anxiety when it comes to the parents(Swell 1997)
2. At some point, the parents, especially mothers, are to be blamed for this condition of their children. This is a result of the methods that the parents use to bring up their children. In most cases it is seen that the children with the problem of late talking are mostly the lastborns. This is because the parents paid so much attention and anticipation to the first born leaving the last born to ask for what they needed.
3. This problem is also seen to arise from the brain which is the part that controls activities of the human body. If a child is born with a brain problem, for example, if the part that controls speech is not in the condition that it should be, then the child will have a problem in his speaking. This may take the child time before the body responds to the brain condition and the child starts talking (Sowell 1997).
4. In a biological perspective, the sex of the children also may play a role in the late talking of the child. This again is explained in the brain where different sexes have different combinations of hormones. It is found that the ratio of boys who have the late talking problem is very low compared to that of the girls just because of the different combinations of the hormones in the brain. The brains of the boys also tend to think about some things that the brains of the girls may not think about at that early stage.
5. Medical tests administered to children at their young age is also seen by Sowell as another reason that a child may have the late talking condition. Some tests may damage the brain of the child, cause a problem in the hearing ability of the child or other physical attacks on the body of the child. These problems may lower the ability of the child to speak as early as expected(Sowell 1997).
6. Finally Sowell mentions hereditary factors. He says that some children may inherit the talking condition from the rest of the family members. This is where you find almost all the children in the family have the talking problem. This condition can be with these children till when they are about to be adults where they will have adopted to the environmental conditions. Also they may have learnt from the people around them.

In his writings, Sowell used a couple of evidences in his conclusions that supported his research and thinking. First his son had the problem of late talking. This means that he had observed him to the level that he understood what was causing the child that problem. Had also had a group of several parents with children who had the same problem (Sowell 1997). They would discuss about how to solve the problems of the children and look deeply into the causes of the problems. Among the parents, there were different cases of these late talking problems and the children would start hearing after different periods of time. This made the evidence laid down by Sowell to be solid enough since it represented both boys and girls and also a large number of such cases.

It has been seen that a child may be behind the years when he or she was supposed to talk but have a very good and normal life. Some of those who have late talking problems tend to be more intelligent than others who talked early enough. Some people put false judgments to these late talking problems which may discourage the parents of the children, for example’ where people in the society say that the child may be retarded (Sowell 1997). It’s also difficult to judge the minds of such children since one can’t know what he or she is thinking while silent. Therefore, it is very difficult to judge the intellectual level of such a child. This is one fallacy that the author (Sowell) commits in his arguments and conclusions of the late talking children. Sowell warns the parents to avoid putting so much faith on certain individuals in the name of doctors. He asks the parents who are faced by such situations to be patient and not seek for diagnosis. This may be making it worse for the condition of their children (Sowell 1997).

It’s true that parents are relieved when their children finally begin to speak. Though, there will be implications that will follow the child, after he or she starts talking. This may be in terms of intelligence maybe the child has very high levels of intelligence or the opposite where the child may have very low levels of intelligence. The child may also start behaving abnormally making the parents more worried than they have ever been. This mostly becomes the case to those parents that rush for medical attentions when their children are late to talk (Sowell 1997).

In conclusion, Sowell’s explanation to these conditions that affects many children in the society educates many parents. This improves the communication skills of those children that are affected by late talking. The best solution to this problem is usually not medical attention but the patience of the parents. Also the parents should take the methods that they use in bringing up their children most important n careful in order to prevent such things from happening where they can avoid.

References

Sowell., .T. 1997:Late Talking Childcren.Basic Books,New York.