Lynne
Hi! I can understand your pain. My son is 5 and has made such tremendous progress! He was diagnosed at 2 and a half and we began immediate speech therapy. (he said "Mommy" for the first time when he was 3) He now attends a school for autistic children. My son did really well with the PECS. It is a Picture Exchange Communication System. With this he is able to point to the object he wants and when he does you can reinforce the word when he points to it. Eventually he'll move beyond the pictures to the actual objects. I know how hard it can be, but I highly recommend extensive speech and language therapy. My thoughts are with you!