About 30% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) fail to acquire spoken language. This group of children has been seriously neglected in research conducted over the past 2 decades. Little is known about them, in part because the field lacks the tools to assess them, and they often pose significant behavioral challenges that preclude their participation in research studies. Among the ~70% individuals with ASD who have spoken language skills, about 50% are language impaired; the remaining group have normal language scores on standardized tests. Thus, there is enormous heterogeneity in verbal abilities in ASD. To date, studies of the brain and cognitive mechanisms that underlie this heterogeneity remain quite limited.