I am not expert either but non-verbal to me is not being able to speak. My son doesn't speak but can do sign language. Hope this helps.

Okay, Okay, I think this maybe getting out of hand and is not helping the person who originally asked the question of what non-verbal is. I am not an expert and do not pretend to be one. I am an expert on my kid and no one else's child. If everyone is willing to take a moan or a grunt as being verbal so be it. I don't because and here is my rationale. Should an ASD child have someone (a typical) child hit him/her--giving a grunt or moan may not diffuse the situation, but actually yelling "stop" may. The key I believe is to be able to communicate needs and wants, whether it is through prompting or not. I have to prompt my son at times (or through sign language or a device). For instance, we were driving home from school today and I heard him say "mommy, is that the park over there?" and I said "yes." I could not believe it--I almost peed in my pants because the speech to was appropriate (he has had a problem with appropriateness). I have witnessed (I sat in my son's class last year) two boys in his class who could not communicate one of whom had to rely on a book (picture) that was put together by the ABA therapist for him to communicate. I have a Master's degree, but it is not in Speech Language and I am not going to continuously defend my position on speech whether verbal or otherwise. I posted only to help the person who initially asked the question and from my experiences (which I believe what we are all relying on here) with my child, sitting in a classroom, and speaking to his speech therapist. This would be similar as to whether weighted vests work--I have heard some O.T.'s say some (based on research) and maybe some say no. Everyone should read B.F. Skinner's book entitled "Verbal Behavior" (me included) hopefully should help everyone have a much clearer understanding on the issue here. Good luck to the individual who posted the original question.

@A MyAutismTeam Member I asked my son's speech therapist, what is considered speech--she stated that echolalia--is not considered speech. Her exact words were that it has to be "meaningful" speech. Our son does "scripted language" also, his developmental pediatrician says ages 4-5 is the peak age.

@A MyAutismTeam Member what do you mean by peak age? Peak for ?

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A MyAutis...

This is not true, non verbal ASD children often make sounds and my actually say a few words if prompted.

This is exactly what my daughter does, she uses PECS and sign language to communicate. She can say about Six words but they are not all that clear. She has a classification as non verbal. I can tell you she is very vocal and is load at some times. She mumbles and babbles all day long