Discussed is the language impairment of children with infantile autism. The speech patterns of autistic children, including echolalia, pronomial reversal, silent language, and voice imitation, are described. The clinical picture of the autistic child is compared to that of children with such other disorders as deafness, retardation, and developmental aphasia. The idea of an organic etiology for autism is briefly considered, and other possible explanations for the language impairment are examined. A brief outline of verbal imitation training is presented, using prompts and the operant conditioning paradigm for shaping. (Author/CL)