For many years, there has been a widespread assumption that autistic people who do not speak are also unable to understand language. However, the growing community of non-speaking autistic letterboard users challenges this assumption. As Autistic non-speaking advocate and Spellers documentary star, Jamie, states, "we think, feel and learn just like everyone else". My research aims to determine whether ElectroEncephaloGraphy (EEG), in combination with machine learning, can be utilised to detect a brain signature of language comprehension in non- and minimally-speaking autistic people. We are currently developing statistical approaches to differentiate between brain responses to meaningful and nonsensical spoken sentences.
