Late Bloomer - Adolescents

Adolescents

During adolescence a child goes through physical and mental changes that lead to them becoming an adult. Adolescence is usually considered to start with the first stages of puberty and to continue until physical growth is complete, although the World Health Organization defines adolescence simply as the period between ages 10 and 20. There is a wide range of normal ages, but generally girls begin the process of puberty between the ages of 9 to 14, reaching adult height and reproductive maturity within 4 years, while boys usually start between the ages of 10 to 17, and continue to grow for about 6 years after the first visible pubertal changes. Adolescence is often a period of turbulent emotions and mood swings combined with rapid intellectual development.

"Late Bloomer" can refer to children who suffer from delayed puberty, who are late in reaching their full height. W.B. Yeats (age 30),Pierre Trudeau (age at least 28),Mark Twain (age 34), and Johann von Goethe (age 39) are all "late bloomers" in this last sense.

In most public educational systems, children and adolescents of the same age are put in the same classes. Because of the wide variance in the onset of adolescence, this means that one class may include individuals who have not yet started puberty, others who are sexually mature but not fully grown and yet others who are effectively adult. During this period, there is a high risk of an adolescent dropping out of formal education (due most commonly to intellectual boredom, bullying, or rebellion) without having achieved their full learning potential. The term "late-bloomer" may refer to such an individual who develops serious intellectual interests in their 20's or 30's and enrolls in college, where he or she performs particularly well and is subsequently able to establish a professional career.