Do autistic children never recover?

An NYT oped by Cammie McGovern, "Autism's Parent Trap," is getting a lot of publicity for asserting:

Now, as the mother of a 10-year-old, I will say what no parents who have just discovered their child is autistic want to hear, but should, at least from one person: I've never met a recovered child outside the pages of those old books.

I only have anecdotal evidence, but I know a kid who was extremely autistic from birth -- he hated to be cuddled as a baby. (In contrast, most autistic children don't show symptoms until they are toddlers.) He didn't speak until he was five. Then, one day, he said:

"Nuclear Regulatory Commission"

And he has seldom stopped talking since. He's a nerdy teenager today, but that's a lot better than being autistic.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer