The Rett girls with preserved speech.

In addition to a total population of 102 classic Rett syndrome girls who visited our department in the last 8 years, 3 were observed showing some of the features typical of this syndrome, including hand-washing activities, but also some atypical features, the most notable of which was their ability to speak in fully formed phrases. One of these girls has a sister with the typical features of classic Rett syndrome. Atypical variants of the Rett syndrome are discussed and the possibility of a "speaking" variant is considered.