To be honest, I had assumed that those people who do not speak - but DO communicate - have physical issues with forming words. After all, I reasoned, if a person wants to communicate but doesn't speak, it must be because speech is just too difficult.
But it turns out that I may be wrong. In fact, according to a top researcher in autism and communication (Dr. Helen Tager-Flusberg, PhD of Boston University), "...the short answer is that we really don't know why some children with ASD don't learn to speak at all."
Tero Toivanen on 10 May 10This is the big question!