Commentary: Exploring the clinical features of minimally verbal autistic children

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Guerrera et al. focus on the clinical features of minimally verbal autistic children, highlighting the need for better characterization of their cognitive and language profiles.
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The use of ADOS-2 for defining minimally verbal status introduces circularity, as it relies on speech output to assess cognitive and developmental limitations.
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Limited speech in minimally verbal autistic children does not necessarily indicate diminished cognitive capacity, as some may have average nonverbal IQ scores.
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Motor impairments significantly affect communication in autistic individuals, yet motor assessment is often overlooked in understanding speech limitations.
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Future research should differentiate between expressive language capacity and performance, emphasizing motor constraints to improve clinical characterization.

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