Are autistic children able to speak?

Autism: Autism is part of a range of diseases called pervasive developmental Disorder or PDD. The range of delay means there are autistic children that are unable to speak while the other end of the spectrum has very high functioning speaking and almost genius like obsessions with an activity often referred to as savant.

Historically, 50% of: children with classical Autism are non-verbal, meaning they have a functional vocabulary of 50 or fewer words at or after age 6. With the lumping of PDD-NOS, Asperger Syndrome & Autism into a single diagnosis in the DSM-V of Autistic Spectrum Disorder Levels 1,2 &3 , 30% of children with ASD are non-verbal. Finding other ways for them to communicate is important, if their cognitive level allows.