patience`
My son Jessie was diagnosed with Dev. and Verbal Dyspraxia at the age of 3 1/2. He is now 4 years and 9 months just like your son. He has been in speech therapy since the age of 2 1/2 since the doctors believed he only had a "speech delay". But in the last six months he has been in not only speech, but also physical and occupational therapy. He has also had session for sensory integration, which has helped more than anything. Does your son have any sensory sensitivity? Such as sensitivity to loud noises, different food textures, or clothing textures. Jessie has made wonderful improvements in his social skills since we started all the therapy sessions. and he loves going to therapy. It's just fun to him. We also plugged into our school district. Because Jessie's dyspraxia is considered a disability he is able to attend the pre-K class at our local elementary school. There he will be in a "regular" class and be taken out each day for 30 minutes for speech (2x a week) and physical and occuputational therapy once a week. And the pre-K day is only 3 hours so it's not too much for him. The most helpful information we received was when we took Jessie to a Pediatric Neuro Psychologist who specialized in learning disorders. She was also able to diagnose Jessie with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) which answered alot of our questions. It is a mild form of autism. Patients improve dramatically with the proper therapy. My advice to you is to research, research, research. The internet has been a wonderful tool for us. Also seek help from a PEDIATRIC Neuro Psychologist. Sincerely, Jessie's mom, Patience