Ming (Agents of Speech) argues that non-verbal children often have a language-use and language-acquisition problem rather than a simple vocabulary deficit. Knowing names (nouns) alone doesn't enable functional communication; educators/therapists should prioritize teaching verbs and other functional words used in real-life communication instead of relying on static vocabulary-focused methods (e.g., flashcards).
Non verbal children have a language use and language acquisition problem, not a vocab problem, right? What does that mean? If a child has a vocab problem, then using logic, the child who knows all the words, all the nouns, all the names of planets, animals, colors, numbers, they shouldn't have a problem with communication, right? The reason why they still do is because they have a language use problem, because they've skewed the vocab towards one part of the whole language that is not even functional. So therefore, what you got to do now is to teach in a way that helps them to acquire those verbs, those other words that we actually use in real life.
