Many idiosyncratic and subtle behaviours of children with autism are now seen as having potential communicative significance, even though they may begin as reflexive or nonpurposeful responses. the study of these prelinguistic communicative behaviours in normally developing children has been of interest for some time. There is growing interest in the communicative potential of prelinguistic behaviours in children with developmental disabilities. the present article reviews some of the behaviourally based research in this area and discusses the links between prelinguistic communication development and functional communica-tion training in children with autism. Theoretical and practical implica-tions are considered and areas for future research are highlighted.