Study of Nonverbal Autism Must Go Beyond Words

Great strides have been made in reducing the number of nonverbal people with autism from 50 percent to 25 percent. This decline is more than likely due to early intervention programs and the diagnosis of milder forms of autism. Early intervention programs have been promoting language development.

Researchers are now saying to better understand and treat this subgroup of nonverbal people with autism, the field needs to move beyond focusing on speech production. Emerging research suggests that seemingly unrelated issues, such as motor skills and joint attention, may instead be key. To read more, click here.