Speech therapy that builds upon word memory may be useful for children with autism.

This study was designed to test to see how children with autism process words. The children with autism did not differ from controls when it came to naming pictures. Children with autism and control children named common pictures more quickly than rare pictures. Boys with autism were faster than controls when it came to naming less common items. The authors suggest that boys with autism are better at thinking of the phonological form of the word (piece of speech that is said as a unit).